


You'll Be My American Boy

by headscarvesandtattoos



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, Alcohol, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, American Harry, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst, Blow Jobs, Cheating, Cuddling, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Flirting, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Hand Jobs, Kissing, London, Love Bites, M/M, Making Out, Sex, Sight seeing, Starbucks, not between harry and louis tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-05
Updated: 2016-12-21
Packaged: 2018-05-18 09:13:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 44,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5920690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/headscarvesandtattoos/pseuds/headscarvesandtattoos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Actually, Louis, can you take Harry to Westminster tomorrow? I have to work all day. Sorry, Harry. I tried to take off but I couldn’t,” Niall apologizes.</p><p>Louis isn’t exactly the person Harry wants to spend his first real day in London with, but there’s no way he’s going to find his way around on his own already.</p><p>Niall and Harry both turn to Louis expectantly.</p><p>“Yeah and after that we can stop at Starbucks to get your non-fat, shit latte, and maybe if I’m feeling super generous I’ll even take a picture of you posing like you’re holding Big Ben in your hand!”</p><p>or the one where Harry's an American studying abroad in London and Louis ends up showing Harry more than just London</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> title from American Boy by Estelle and Kanye West
> 
> been thinking about writing this since I got back from studying abroad in London so I finally decided to do it!
> 
> Enjoy!

Louis wasn’t mad, he was just disappointed. He didn’t like when people ruined his plans, and his plans were definitely ruined.

  
Ever since he was young he had dreamed of moving from Doncaster to the big, bustling city of London and attend university. He met Zayn when he was 12, and told him his plan, Zayn had agreed to join in and from that moment on, they were best mates. Best mates who dreamed of sharing a flat in the big city.  
They’re almost half way through their second year of university in London when Zayn drops the bomb.

  
“So,” Zayn says one morning, eyes trained on his piece of toast.

  
“So?” Louis raises his eyebrows from where he’s pouring a cup of tea across the kitchen.

  
“As you know, Perrie and I have been together for a while.”

 

“Yeah, Zayn. I do know that. Whatever you’re trying to say just spit it out, you’re being weird.”

  
Zayn sighs, looking up from his toast. “I’m gonna move in with Perrie,” he rushes out.

  
Louis freezes, “Oh.”

  
“Oh?”

  
“Like at the end of 2nd year?” Louis asks.

  
“Um, no like after Christmas.”

  
Louis runs a hand through his hair. “Zayn, I’m happy for you and all, but how the fuck am I supposed to pay rent alone, or find a new roommate on such short notice?”

  
Zayn waves a hand, cutting Louis off. “Taken care of, mate.”

  
“What do you mean taken care of?”

  
Zayn sends Louis a smug smile. “You know how Niall lived in America for a few years?” Louis nods, thinking of all the stories Niall often tells of his time across the pond. “Well, one of his American mates is coming to London for spring term, one of those study abroad things. He needs a place to live and Niall and Liam don’t have room over in there flat, so I thought this would be the perfect place from him to live!”

  
Louis throws his head back, laughing. “Generous of you to make that decision for me.”

  
“Lou, come on. I’m trying to help you. You need a roommate, Niall’s mate needs a place to live. It’s perfect. Plus, Niall said this guy’s really cool, it’s, like, his best mate from the States.”

  
“Whatever, obviously I don’t have a say in this since you all decided this already, and me being the generous guy that I am, I’m not gonna make Niall’s friend find another place to stay.”

 

“That’s the spirit,” Zayn fake cheers.

  
“Zayn” Louis sighs. “I’m happy for you, really. I’m sorry if it doesn’t seem that way. I’m just caught a little off guard with all of this.”  
“I know, Lou. I get it,” Zayn tells him.

  
Louis can only sigh in response.

  
**  
Louis goes home for Christmas and spends it with his family. Living in London for the past few years, he doesn’t get to spend a lot of time with them. The holidays pass quickly and before Louis knows it he’s back in London helping Zayn move into Perrie’s flat.

  
After several hours and what feels like thousands of boxes later, Louis calls it quits. “Gotta shift at work,” Louis reminds Zayn, walking towards the door.  
“Okay, but don’t forget Harry should be arriving tonight!” Zayn calls after him.

  
Oh right, his new American flat mate. Louis realizes that up until now he didn’t even know what his new flat mate’s name was, or really anything besides the fact that he’s friends with Niall.

  
He makes it to work just in time, throwing on his green apron and taking his place at the cash register. Starbucks isn’t the most glamorous job but they pay alright and it’s just down the street from his flat. He’d much rather roll out of bed and walk down the street to work every day than sit on the crowded tube in rush hour.

  
Louis finishes ringing up a customer before calling out “Next!”

  
There’s a pause and he looks up to find a tall, lanky guy with long, curly hair struggling to roll along a giant suitcase.

  
“Sorry,” he says, bashfully, continuing to struggle.

  
“Take your time, mate. Not like there’s a giant queue behind you or anything,” Louis says sarcastically. Of course, it’s one of their busiest times of the day.

Several more moments of struggling, and he finally make his way to the register, squinting at the menu. “Um, what do you recommend? I’m new here so, like…” he trails off. If it wasn’t for the fact that this is probably one of the most gorgeous people Louis has ever seen in his life, he’d be a lot more pissed off than he is about this whole ordeal and he’s pretty pissed off.

  
“Yeah, can tell by the accent,” Louis comments. “Honestly, I’m pretty sure the menu is exactly the same in America so just pick something.”

“Oh,” the American laughs. “I’ll have a Grande Skinny Iced Vanilla Latte with just a hint of whipped crème, Splenda instead of actual sugar, soy milk, and light on the ice.”

  
Louis refrains from rolling his eyes. “You’re joking,” he deadpans.

“Do you, um, do you not have that here? I always order that back home.”

“You’re ridiculous. Your total is £4.50,” Louis responds, typing whatever that fuck the American just ordered into the register. Its people like this guy that make Louis hate Starbucks.

  
The boy pulls out his wallet, furrowing his eyebrows as he digs through it. He pulls out a few bills, holding them up to examine them. “Hold on, let me find some singles.”

  
“We don’t have any notes less than £5, mate.”

  
“So, I have to pay in all cents?” the boys asks, eyebrows raised in shock. Louis can’t believe this. His job is to ring people’s drinks up, not teach them lessons on the currency of the United Kingdom.

  
“Let me remind you, there’s a giant queue behind you, and we call them pence not cents.” Honestly, Louis should be getting paid extra for this. “Just give me that £5 note and I’ll give you 50p back.”

  
Luckily, he hands Louis the money without a fuss, and accepts the change without any more questions besides, “Don’t you need my name?”

  
“Nope,” Louis replies, “Next!”

  
“The American,” the other barista is calling out several minutes later. Louis watches with a small smirk on his face as the boy rolls his eyes and takes the drink.

  
“Thank you and come again!” Louis calls out while the American struggles to wheel his suitcase out the door while simultaneously trying not to slip his drink all over himself. Americans are strange ones.

  
Luckily the queue begins to die down, and Louis’ shift finally ends. Taking the green apron off, Louis walks over to the sink to wash off the remnants of sticky chocolate syrup and dried milk.

  
“See you tomorrow!” Louis calls out to his co-workers and makes his way to the door.

  
The streets are peacefully empty at this time of night, with the sun already down, and rush hour thankfully over. The night air is cold, but it was refreshing after a long day of moving boxes and dealing with customers. Louis can’t wait to get home and have a relaxing night in front of the telly, maybe order some take away and enjoy the peace and quiet for the first time all day.

  
He pulls his keys out of his pocket, walking up the familiar steps to his flat. As he turns the key and opens the door, the sound of laughter hits his ears. Who the fuck is in his flat, and why are they there when Louis doesn’t want to see another person for the rest of the night.

  
The murmured sound of talking is coming from the kitchen, and the mystery person laughs again. Niall.

  
“Niall?” Louis calls, toeing off his shoes at the door and leaving them in the middle of the floor. Since Zayn doesn’t live here anymore Louis can have the freedom to place his shoes where ever he likes without him complaining about it every single day.

  
“Kitchen!” Niall calls back. “Come meet Harry!”

  
Harry? Oh God, Harry. Louis was so busy at work that he completely forgot Niall’s friend was moving in today. There go his plans of having a night to himself. While Louis knows nothing about Harry, he’s pretty sure that Harry will not like the fact that Louis leaves his shoes in the middle of the floor. There goes Louis’ other plans to leave his shoes wherever he wants. Great.

  
Louis takes a deep breath, and walks into the kitchen only to be met by two familiar faces. One being Niall’s and the other being-

  
“No fucking way,” Harry laughs and the same time Louis grumbles “You’re kidding me.”

  
Niall looks between the two of them, clearly confused. “Do you two know each other or something?”

  
“Well I wouldn’t say we know each other,” Louis begins, crossing his arms over his chest. “But _Harry_ here came into Starbucks today and held up the entire queue ordering an I don’t even know what kind of drink with no knowledge of how to pay in pounds, lugging around a suitcase the size of this flat!”

  
Harry lets out an unamused laugh. “It wouldn’t have taken so long if you hadn’t made so many rude, unnecessary comments! I should report you to corporate!”

  
“Oh my God, you’re one of _those_ Americans,” Louis huffs, incredulously.

  
“What do you mean “one of those Americans”?” Harry asks, putting his hands up in air quotes.

  
Niall just sits there with wide eyes, watching the exchange between his two friends.

  
“Oh, you know what I mean!” Louis spits back, arms flailing in the air. “You Americans always want to complain when something doesn’t go your way. Always wanting to sue someone!”

  
“What? I never-“

  
“Okay enough!” Niall finally cuts in. “I don’t know what the problem is between you two but I hope you realize you’re fighting over a fucking Starbucks drink. Louis go shower, we’re taking Harry out for his first night in London, and you two are going to shut the fuck up about this and move past it because you’re flat mates now whether you like it or not.”

  
Louis would argue that he doesn’t want to go out but this is one of the few times he’s ever seen Niall be so serious and he doesn’t like it. He just rolls his eyes and walks out the room, upstairs to the bathroom. At least he can have a few minutes of peace and quiet in the shower.

  
“So, this is a fun start!” Niall jokes.

  
Harry’s lips quirk up into a small smile. “Are you sure this is a good idea, Niall? I can look for a different flat or, like, sleep at a hotel for a while or something,” he suggests, playing with his rings. It’s a nervous habit.

  
Niall scoffs, “No, Harry you’re not doing that. This is gonna work out fine, Louis is just being a brat. Trust me, you two will be best mates in no time! I’m sure he’ll relax once we get a few drinks in him.”

  
“Okay,” Harry agrees, although he’s still a bit unconvinced.

  
“In the meantime, let’s get started,” Niall suggests, getting up from his chair to pull a couple of beers out of Louis’ refrigerator. He passes one to Harry and cracks his own open. “To your first night in London?” Niall proposes, raising his can and knocking it against Harry’s.  
Harry only nods, downing half of it in one gulp.

  
**  
Harry likes London a lot, he decides. He also likes the countless amount of fruity drinks he’s had tonight. He lost count a long time ago but he doesn’t care. At some point he tried to refuse but Niall insisted he keeps drinking, saying that this is a celebration.

  
He’s sat a booth next to Niall, and Liam is across from them. Zayn and Louis wandered onto the dance floor a while ago. Harry wonders if Louis has found anyone to dance with. He probably has.

  
Niall and Liam seem to be in a deep discussion about something Harry doesn’t understand but he doesn’t mind, he likes listening to Liam’s accent. Harry tries mimicking the British accent every so often, sending Niall into a fit of laughter each time.

  
There’s a pause in the conversation and Niall declares it time to get more drinks.

“I’ll be right back,” Niall excuses himself, leaving Harry with Liam.

  
“Having fun so far?” Liam asks when Niall leaves.

 

“Yeah, s’good. Different than back home, but in a good way.”

  
Liam opens his mouth to ask another question but he stops when Louis and Zayn approach the booth. “Lads!” Louis exclaims, plopping down next to Harry in the spot Niall had been sitting in moments ago.Harry looks down at his hands, playing with his rings again. He’s not exactly sure how to act around Louis yet especially after their little fight they had earlier in the evening.

  
“Why are you staring at me, Liam? Got something on me face?” Louis laughs.

  
“More like your neck,” Liam answers, a smirk on his face.

  
Looking up, Harry glances over at Louis’ neck and sure enough there’s a massive hickey, bright red against Louis’ golden skin.

 

“Oh fuck,” Louis curses, bringing his hand up to his neck. “There’s some feisty ones out there tonight.”

  
Before anything else can be said, Niall is coming back with drinks, passing them to everyone.

  
Harry picks up his drink, taking a long gulp, trying to get rid of the weird feeling in his stomach. He can’t quite put his finger on what it is.

  
“Cheers, mate,” Louis murmurs, knocking his glass against Harry’s, pulling him out of his thoughts. Louis eyebrows are raised, almost in a questioning way. Harry hadn’t realized he had been staring.

  
A few more drinks later and Harry is officially drunk out of his mind.

  
“So, Harry, what’s on the top of your list? What do you wanna see first in London?” Liam asks, probably the least drunk out of everyone at the table.

“Um,” he thinks for a moment. “Probably Big Ben.”

  
Louis snorts.

  
“How’s that funny?” Harry slurs, slightly offended.

  
Niall lets out a bark of laughter, “Louis will take you to see Big Beg, Harry. He _loves_ Big Ben.”

  
“Yeah, love it,” Louis rolls his eyes. “Nothing like a tower the color of shit and hundreds of tourists who don’t know how to walk on a sidewalk, stopping in your way to take photos every two seconds. What a landmark!”

  
Harry finds Louis’ sarcasm a bit irritating and condescending, mocking the fact that tourists love to go see Big Ben. It’s something that comes to everyone’s mind when they think of London, of course Harry wants to go see it. It’s iconic. Harry wouldn’t laugh at Louis if he came to New York and wanted to see the Statue of Liberty.

  
“Actually, Louis, can you take Harry to Westminster tomorrow? I have to work all day. Sorry, Harry. I tried to take off but I couldn’t,” Niall apologizes.  
Louis isn’t exactly the person he wants to spend his first real day in London with, but there’s no way he’s going to find his way around on his own already.

  
Niall and Harry both turn to Louis expectantly.

  
“Yeah and after that we can stop at Starbucks to get your non-fat, shit latte, and maybe if I’m feeling super generous I’ll even take a picture of you posing like you’re holding Big Ben in your hand!”

  
“Be nice, Lou” Niall warns, but there’s a hint of a smile on his face, and Harry doesn’t understand why considering Louis has been nothing but a huge asshole to him the entire night.

  
Harry just takes another sip of his drink, trying to ignore that feeling in his stomach again, the press of Louis’ thigh next to his, and the vibration of his phone in his pocket.

  
So, this is London then.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's the 2nd update! I will update about once a week, sometimes more depending on my schedule!
> 
> enjoy!

Louis is pulled out of a deep sleep by the loud sound of cabinets being opened and closed, pans bagging against each other. 

Oh that’s right, he has a new flat mate.

Groaning, Louis rolls over blindly reaching for his phone to check the time. 

10:03

Could be worse but he usually likes to sleep until at least 12:00 after a night out. A lot of the details from the previous night are blurry but he does remember his neck being attacked by fucking Edward Cullen or something, and Niall asking Louis to take Harry to Westminster.

Fucking Westminster. The last place Louis wants to go especially with a hangover, and Harry seems like the type of guy who doesn’t get hangovers and spends the entire day bragging about it while everyone suffers. 

After several minutes of lying in bed cursing his life, Louis decides the only way to face the day is to start it with a cup of tea. Rolling out of bed, Louis makes his way downstairs and into the kitchen. He stops just short of the entry way when he hears Harry’s voice. It sounds like he’s on the phone and he doesn’t sound happy, as he bangs around the kitchen making breakfast. Which first of all, that’s Louis’ food, not Louis and Harry’s food. 

“There’s a five hour time difference,” he hears Harry sigh. “If you can’t deal with that when I’ve not even been here for twenty-four hours than there’s a big problem.” 

Louis quickly moves to the side to hide where Harry won’t be able to see him. It’s not that Louis wants to eavesdrop on Harry it’s just that, well, he wants to hear this for whatever reason.

“I was out, okay? I can’t check my phone every second, and why the fuck would I think you would be awake at 5 am?” Harry continues. Maybe is mum is worried about him. How old is Harry anyway?

He watches as Harry listens to whoever is on the other line, and he doesn’t look very happy. 

“I’m not having this fight right now. I’ll call you later.” And with that, Harry hangs up, muttering something to himself as he grabs some eggs and starts cracking them into a pan. Louis waits a few more seconds before entering the kitchen.

“Morning,” Louis says on his way over to find his kettle as if he hadn't just heard Harry's entire conversation.

“Making breakfast,” Harry murmurs in response. “How do you like your eggs?”

Louis scoffs. He would find this a kind gesture if it wasn’t for the fact that Harry didn’t even ask before using his food. 

“I like my eggs over easy, and notice how I said my eggs because those are my eggs you’re cooking there.”

Harry looks up with an amused smile on his face. “Sorry,” he apologizes. “I just thought I’d make us breakfast. If it’s that important to you then I can pay you back.”

“And how do you plan on doing that?” Louis laughs from where he’s making his tea. “If I remember correctly, you had quite a difficult time paying at Starbucks yesterday.”

“Oh my God,” Harry huffs. “I had only been in London for, like, an hour. So sorry that I didn’t automatically know everything about your currency.”

“I’ve been to America and I had no trouble paying for anything.”

“Well, this sure as hell isn’t America,” Harry mutters, taking the eggs out of the frying pan and dividing them onto separate plates for he and Louis.

Louis only hums in response, grabbing his cup of tea and one of the two plates Harry made, taking it to the table. He can’t lie, the breakfast looks pretty fucking amazing. Not that he would tell Harry that, but.

A moment later Harry joins him at the table, digging into his own breakfast.

Several minutes pass by in silence, neither one of them looking up from their plates.

“So, Westminster?” Louis finally asks, around a mouthful of egg on toast. He almost hopes Harry won’t hear him.

“What?” Harry looks up from his plate.

“You wanted to go to Westminster, well at least that’s what you said last night so, um, do you still want to go?”

Harry’s eyes go a bit wide, probably shocked that Louis is even bringing this up. “Well, yeah I’d love to go to Westminster.”

“One hour,” Louis sighs. “Be ready in an hour and we’ll go.”

Harry opens his mouth to thank Louis but Louis cuts him off before Harry can get a word out. “Don’t get any ideas in your head. I’m doing this for the sake of Niall.”

And with that Louis heads to shower hoping to wash away his hangover and the misery that is taking an American to Westminster for the first time.   
**  
An hour later Louis is feeling loads better, but he’ll feel even better once the next few hours are over. He walks over to where he left his shoes in the middle of the floor when he came home the night before, and slips them on. Harry makes his way downstairs as Louis is putting on his jacket. 

Louis can’t help but snort. Harry looks ridiculous.

“What?” Harry asks.

“Nothing, mate. Your shirt is just something else.”

To put it bluntly, it looks like someone ate a rainbow cupcake and threw it up on Harry’s shirt.

Harry just rolls his eyes. “Ready?”

Louis nods. “Do you have an Oyster card yet? We’re taking the tube.” He prays to God Harry already has one, because he has a feeling he’ll have to walk Harry through every simple fucking step of purchasing one. 

“Yeah, Niall had an extra one he gave me with some money on it.”

“Thank fuck. Alright let’s get this over with,” Louis groans, walking out the door.

The two make the short walk to the tube station, Harry content enough looking around and snapping pictures on his iPhone that they don’t need to talk at all.  
When they get to the station, Harry obediently follows Louis, tapping in with their Oyster Cards without asking any questions. They make their way to the escalator and Harry, the idiot that he is, gets on and stands right next to Louis.

“Holy fuck, Harry. You’re gonna get trampled! Stand on the right, walk on the left,” Louis instructs. “It’s not that hard. There’s literally a sign right there.”

“Whoops,” Harry shrugs, squeezing in behind Louis.

Louis just rolls his eyes. 

They finally make it to the platform to wait for the train.

“So,” Louis begins. “You should probably, like, learn your way around the tube because I’m sure as fuck not gonna babysit you for the next five months. This is Bermondsey and we’re taking the Jubilee Line to Westminster. Got it?”

“Jubilee Line to Westminster, got it,” Harry repeats, looking up from where he’s typing away on his phone.

They wait for several minutes before the train finally shows up, and wait for a few people to exit before stepping on, the recording playing to mind the gap between the train and the platform.

Louis walks towards an empty seat and hears Harry chuckle behind him. Harry sits down next to Louis and Louis gives him a questioning look.

"Mind the gap," Harry smiles. "That's cute." 

It's not cute. It's plastered everywhere. Every store you go in, t-shirts, shot glasses, phone cases with mind the gap written all over it. Louis doesn't like anything that has to do with tourists, and he has a feeling Harry is going to be exactly the type of tourist he hates.

Raising an eyebrow, Louis studies Harry's face for a moment before Harry turns away to look at the map of the Jubilee Line which is posted above the windows along with the advertisement. 

Louis can't lie, Harry's very pretty but he's also pretty fucking annoying and clueless and Louis simply won't stand for that.

They sit quietly side by side as they pass through London Bridge, Southwark, Waterloo, and finally get to Westminster.

"Here we are," Louis speaks standing up as the tube comes to a stop. 

Harry follows Louis through the station, from the deep underground, escalator after escalator until they're tapping out with their Oyster Cards.

Louis looks around before locating the exit which will put them right in front of Big Ben. There's a large crowd of people moving throughout the station and Louis is already regretting his very generous decision.

"Better get your camera ready," Louis tells Harry with fake enthusiasm.

They climb the stairs together while Harry attempts to get something out of his backpack. Seconds later he's holding a very expensive looking camera. Cute.

"Camera's ready," Harry smiles, pressing a few buttons.

"That thing looks like it costs more than my flat."

"You mean our flat," Harry reminds him, obnoxious grin on his face.

"Right," Louis says faintly, but his words are lost as the reach the last step, and are met with the sight of Big Ben. 

“Oh my God,” Harry murmurs in awe of Big Beg.

Louis let’s Harry take the lead because he honestly has no interest in any of today’s events. Louis loves London but there’s certain things that Louis feels he only needs to see once in his life. Big Ben, of course, being one of them.

Harry leads them over to the green, grassy area across from Big Ben at a quicker pace than necessary.

“We don’t have to walk so fast,” Louis comments. “This will all still be here in five minutes, you know.”

Shrugging, Harry doesn’t slow down one bit until they finally make it to the grass. Harry stops, standing still, admiring his surroundings.  
“I can’t believe I’m here,” he laughs in disbelief. “Like I’m actually looking at Big Ben right now.”

“Yep. Not very exciting is it?”  
“Not very exciting? It’s amazing!” 

Harry brings his obnoxiously expensive camera up to his eye with great focus, snapping pictures all around. Louis pulls out his phone hoping to distract himself with Twitter, maybe that will make the time go by faster.

“Louis?” Harry asks several minutes later.

“Hmm?” Louis replies without looking up from his phone.

“I know you said you wouldn’t but, like, would you take a picture of me? With Big Ben?” 

Looking up from his phone, Louis is met with a timid smile from Harry. It’s almost cute. Almost.

“Just make it quick,” Louis grumbles, taking Harry’s phone from him.

Taking a quick photo turns into a fucking photoshoot. Louis should’ve known Harry is one of those aesthetic Instagramers and none of the pictures Louis took fit Harry’s Instagram theme. A bit demanding in Louis’ opinion especially considering Louis kindly brought him to Westminster and considering Louis is letting Harry live in his fucking flat. Ungrateful American.

Once Harry’s little photoshoot is finally finished, only because Louis declares that he is in capable of taking any more pictures, Harry begs Louis to go on the London Eye. 

“We’re not going on there, Harry. It’s a waste of money,”

“But Louis,” Harry pouts. He’s literally pouting. Who is the kid?

“Maybe someday, if I ever decided to do something nice for you again, I’ll take you somewhere better,” Louis vows. Although he’ll most likely going to regret saying this when Harry insists Louis takes him there sometime in the near future.

“Fine, but can we stop at Starbucks?”

Louis is going to murder him

“You better be fucking kidding me,” Louis hisses. “I actually have to work in an hour, so we need to leave, and if you really want Starbucks, find another one. I don’t want the same thing that happened yesterday to happen today. I’m not in the mood.”  
**  
They make it back to the flat without anything too major happening, thank God, and just in time for Louis to be able to change and head to work.  
Louis is just about to leave out the door when he hears Harry call his name.

“Huh?”

Harry comes out of the kitchen.

“I just wanted to say, like, thanks for taking me today. I know you didn’t want to so, yeah,” Harry finishes lamely.

“Uh, you’re welcome,” Louis responds, not really sure what else to say before walking out the door and heading to work trying not to think too hard about anything.

Work goes by quickly, and luckily Harry doesn’t stop by.

When Louis walks out of work he checks his phone to find a missed call from Niall. He presses call as he starts the short journey back to his flat.  
“Hello?” Niall answers on the third ring. 

“You called? I’m walking home from work right now.”

“Oh right, was just gonna say thanks for taking Harry today. You made his day,”  
Louis snorts. “Precious.”

“Anyway, I’m at your flat right now. Harry’s in the shower but we’re probably going out again tonight if you wanna join.”  
**  
Going out ends up being taking Harry to Piccadilly Circus. Louis hates Piccadilly Circus, possibly even more than Big Ben. But Niall said drinks would be on him so, Louis couldn’t really refuse.

They take the Jubilee Line to Green Park and transfer to the Piccadilly Line one stop over to Piccadilly Circus. It’s pretty crowded on the tube, a lot of people heading towards Piccadilly Circus for a night out, so they all have to pack in close. As soon as the board the train at Green Park, Louis knows exactly what’s about to happen.

“This is a Piccadilly Line service to Cockfosters,” the lady’s voice announces throughout the tube. 

Before Louis can even say anything he hears Harry burst out laughing behind him. So Harry is as much of a child as he thought.  
“Cockfosters,” Harry breathes out in between fits of laughter.

“You’re such a fucking child,” Louis scoffs. “I laughed at that when I was, like, twelve.”

“Sorry, Louis. I’m gonna laugh every time. I love penis jokes,” Harry shrugs, as if everyone around them isn’t looking at him, refraining from rolling their eyes.  
When the get off the tube, it’s a nightmare. It takes forever just to get out of the tube station and onto the street.

They weave in and out of people, trying to find a pub to get drinks at.

Louis pretends he doesn’t notice how adorable Harry looks, eyes wide looking up at the big screen in Piccadilly Circus, the light illuminating his face.   
“Louis!” He hears Niall call.

Louis turns away from Harry to see what Niall wants.

“I called your name like five times,” Niall smirks. “I said, do you wanna go here?” He’s pointing to a pub across the street that doesn’t look to overly crowded.  
Louis shrugs as some sort of agreement. They make their way across the street, Niall clapping a hand on Louis’ back. 

“This is gonna be a fun few months,” Niall laughs.

“Don’t know what you mean, mate.” Louis replies, trying to dodge all the tourists.

When they get inside the pub, it’s fairly crowded by Louis is able to find a booth right away. Harry follows him while Niall heads to the bar to order them drinks.  
The two of them sit down, and Harry angrily taps away on his phone while they wait for Niall. 

Just as Niall is coming back to their booth, Harry’s phone starts to ring, and Louis watches as his face contorts into a look of pain as he checks who it is.  
“I have to take this,” he mutters before leaving the booth.

Weird.

Louis looks to Niall for some sort of answer but Niall just shrugs handing him a drink. He gets the feeling Niall knows more than he’s letting on, it’s not like Louis needs to know Harry’s business anyway.

He knocks back the first drink before Harry is even back in the booth.

Harry’s fucking weird, he thinks to himself as Niall hands him a second drink. 

The rest of the night continues in a similar fashion, and Louis doesn’t care. Niall is buying anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading! feedback appreciated!
> 
> www.headscarvesandtattoos.tumblr.com


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's chapter 3! i'll probably continue to update on Tuesdays.
> 
> Enjoy!

“How many more steps?” Harry pants.

Louis just shrugs, continuing to move his feet, step after step.

Harry has been in London for a little over two weeks now and not much has changed besides the fact that school started up again. Louis’ been pretty busy trying to balance school and work but unfortunately there’s still enough time in between for Harry to beg Louis to take him places.

Quite frankly, Louis is pretty surprised it took this long for Harry to ask him to bring him here. When Harry had asked Louis if they could go on the London Eye several weeks back, Louis had told him it was a waste of money and that maybe he would take him some place better. Louis had hoped Harry forgot, but of course he didn’t so here they are, climbing the hundreds of stairs up to the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

It’s not cheap and it’s a little touristy but it’s one of Louis’ favorite places in London. It takes forever to get to the top, but when you get there, the view of London is breathtaking.

“We’re almost there,” Louis tells Harry several minutes later.

He doesn’t want to admit it but he’s pretty excited about this. It’s been a long time since he’s been here.

Finally, after what feels like a million stairs, they reach the top, stepping outside to where they can see everything.

“Wow,” Louis hears Harry murmur behind him in disbelief. “Louis, this is incredible.”

They’re here on a clear day, making it possible to see for miles and miles. A blue sky is a rare thing in London, so they’re pretty lucky.

“Yeah, it’s pretty incredible,” Louis agrees.

“Can you, like, tell me about what we’re looking at?” Harry asks, taking his camera out of his backpack.

“Yeah I guess so,” Louis shrugs, slipping his hands into his pocket. “Um, over here to our left. That’s the Financial District. The egg shaped building is the Gherkin.”

Harry nods along, snapping pictures as Louis explains things.

“I like the Gherkin. It looks like a penis,” Harry smiles. Louis rolls his eyes.

“Of course you do. Um, what else. That’s the Shard over there. Tallest building in Western Europe. You can go to the top of that too but ask Niall to take you because I won’t.”

They work their way around the top, and Harry asks a lot of questions but Louis actually doesn’t mind too much. He loves London and knows a lot about it. He even snaps a few pictures of his own to send to his sisters.

After about half an hour of enjoying the view of the city, they decide to leave, making their way back down the stairs and to the tube.

“Louis, do you have an Instagram?” Harry asks when they sit down.

Louis nods.

“Can I follow you?”

“No.”

When the get back to Bermondsey, the two go their separate ways, Louis to work and Harry back to the flat.

“Thanks for taking me Louis. That was amazing. Best tour guide ever,” Harry smiles.

“Yeah. Don’t burn the flat down while I’m at work,” Louis warns, turning on heels and making his way to Starbucks without looking back.

**

After several hectic hours of working, Zayn walks into Starbucks, waving to Louis and sitting down in the corner.

“I’m taking my break,” Louis tells his boss before making his way over to where Zayn is sitting.

Between school starting back up and Zayn moving in with Perrie, they haven’t seen each other much recently so they decided it would be a good idea to meet up during Louis’ break to catch up.

“Hey,” Louis greets, sitting down across from Zayn.

“Hey Lou. How’s it going?” Zayn smiles.

Louis shrugs as he pulls out his phone. “Okay, I guess. Miss having you as my flatmate a bit, but. How are things going with you and Perrie?”

“Really good,” Zayn replies. “Although I do miss tripping over your shoes in the doorway just a little. Perrie is a lot more organized than you, believe it or not.”

“I knew you liked when I did that!”

Looking down at his phone, Louis sees that he has two Instagram notifications which is weird since he barely ever uses Instagram. He clicks on the app, and goes to the notification section which is when he remembers Harry asking him about his Instagram on the tube. Harry not only found Louis’ Instagram after Louis told him not to follow him, he followed him and tagged him in a photo.

“Jesus Christ,” Louis huffs as he brings the photo up. Harry must have taken a picture of him without him even realizing it. It’s a picture of Louis pointing to one of the buildings on top of St. Paul’s with London in the background. That’s not even the most ridiculous part. The caption says “Louis with a view-y.”

“What?” Zayn asks curiously.

Louis shoves his phone in Zayn’s face.

“Louis with a view-y,” Zayn snorts. “That’s cute. You guys have been hanging out then?”

“I wouldn’t call it hanging out. More like he begs me to take him places and I take him just to shut him up.”

“Right,” Zayn murmurs, continuing to scroll through Harry’s Instagram. “This picture of you already has over 100 likes, Louis. Harry’s Insta-famous or something. He has like 5,000 followers.”

Scoffing, Louis takes his phone back from Zayn to see for himself. “The fact that 5,000 people would want to follow him. Unbelievable.”

“Oh come on, Lou. You do realize he’s your type don’t you? Do you think he’s into guys?”

“He is not my type!” Louis exclaims.

Zayn rolls his eyes. “Yes he is. You didn’t answer my question. Into guys or no?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugs. “He has brought up penises on multiple occasions. He said he likes the Gherkin because it looks like a penis. Oh and he laughed at Cockfosters.”

“Every American laughs at Cockfosters.”

“Yeah I’m pretty sure Harry is, like, 12. Oh. Wait, here’s a picture of him with a girl on his Instagram,” Louis points out, showing the picture to Zayn. “Not that it matters though. He’s not my type.”

**

“I could sue you,” is the first thing out of Louis’ mouth when he walks in the door after work.

Harry is sprawled out on the couch watching TV.

“Um, why?” Harry asks, barely looking away from whatever he’s watching.

Louis kicks his shoes off and goes to stand in front of the TV to block Harry’s view.

“You can’t just take a picture of me without my knowledge and post it on Instagram!” Louis exclaims, throwing his hands in the air. “That’s illegal.”

“It’s not that big of a deal, Louis. Can you move? I’m trying to watch this,” Harry sighs.

“I’ll move when you delete it.”

“No,” Harry says, furrowing his eyebrows. “I like that picture. Didn’t you like that caption?”

Louis crosses his arms from where he’s still standing in front of the TV. “You think you’re so clever don’t you?”

Harry’s frown turns into a smile. “Check your Instagram. I bet you gained at least 10 followers since I posted that. Model material.”

Model material, huh?

“I don’t care about Instagram, Harry.”

“Well you should follow me back,” Harry suggests. “Living together for the next five months, I’m bound to post more pictures of you. Maybe even some of us together on our little London adventures.”

“You’re not posting any more pictures of me!” Louis spits.

“You’re very aesthetically pleasing, Louis.”

Louis doesn’t even know what that means but it sounds hipster as fuck. He’ll have to ask Zayn. He would know what that means.

Louis runs a frustrated hand through his hair. “Whatever that means.”

“Look it up,” Harry smirks. “Now move, please. I just missed five minutes of this movie so you could complain about a picture you should actually be thanking me for.”

“Thanking you for?” Louis asks, incredulously. “You know what, whatever. This is a waste of my time. I have better things to do.” Before Harry can say anything else, Louis moves away from the TV, stalking up to his room.

He changes out of his work clothes and plops down on his bed, pulling out his phone so he can text Zayn.

_what does aesthetically pleasing mean ? It sounds like something you would probably say_

It’s only a few minutes before Zayn replies.

**Basically it’s like the same as calling something beautiful. Why?**

What the fuck? Harry called him beautiful?

Louis’ hands are a bit shaky as he types out his reply. There’s a familiar feeling in the bottom of his stomach.

_Um well Harry told me I’m “very aesthetically pleasing” but he wouldn’t tell me what it means he said to look it up so.._

He’s a little reluctant to tell Zayn this considering he kept going on about how Harry is Louis’ type earlier. Louis had denied it, several times even. But, Zayn wasn’t exactly wrong. Harry’s obnoxious though, and Louis most definitely does not do obnoxious.

Grabbing his laptop out of his backpack lying on the floor on the side of his bed, Louis starts it up as he waits for Zayn’s reply. He can’t help but feel a kind of anxious about the whole situation.

Finally, Louis’ phone vibrates next to him. Unlocking his phone and opening up two messages from Zayn, Louis rolls his eyes.

**omg d8 ;)**

**But really Lou, jokes asides, he’s your type and he thinks you’re beautiful, so that’s a good sign.**

_Zayn…I’m not talking about this anymore. Goodnight !_

Refraining from throwing his phone across the room, Louis pulls up Netflix as a distraction. Nothing like binge watching a TV series to get your mind off things.

Several minutes in to his fifth episode of the Walking Dead, Niall walks into his room.

“What the fuck? When did you get here?” Louis asks, slightly startled.

Niall laughs and walks across the room to sit down on Louis’ bed.

“Harry let me in a while ago. How was St. Paul’s? Harry loved it!”

“Of course he did. St. Paul’s is sick,” Louis answers, setting his laptop aside.

“Yeah it is,” Niall agrees. “Pretty sick picture he posted of you too"

Louis sighs. “I’m pissed about that.”

“Harry mentioned. Look Louis, he didn’t mean any harm by it. Photography is one of his hobbies, and he’s actually really good at it. You two are my best mates and I want you to get along so we can all hang out together. Try to give him a chance,” Niall pleads. “You know me, I like to live carefree but you two are gonna turn my hair gray by the end of this if you both keep this act up.”

“Alright, alright. Be nice to the little hipster.”

“That’s the spirit!” Niall sings, pulling Louis into a hug.

**

A few days pass and Louis doesn’t bring up the Instagram thing again. Harry was right though, Louis did gain some followers since he was tagged in the picture. Although, they’ll be disappointed to find out that he only posts on exceptionally important events.

Louis, Niall, and Harry are all out at the pub down the street for half priced fish n chips when Harry brings it up.

“So, um, Louis,” Harry stutters, pushing his chips around on his plate.

“Yes?” he answers a bit skeptical. This’ll be good.

Harry clears his throat and looks up. “I know you won’t be happy about this but,” he pauses and looks at Niall who nods at Harry to continue.

Okay, now Louis is really worried.

“I’m in a, um, photography course, and for my first piece I want to submit the picture of you at St. Paul’s.”

Well, that’s not what Louis was expecting.

“Oh do you now?” Louis asks, glancing at Niall who looks a little worried. Harry only nods.

When Harry says nothing more, Louis asks, “What’s in it for me?”

Raising his eyebrows in disbelief, Harry let’s go of his fork, letting it hit his plate with a clank. “What’s in it for you? Are you fucking serious, Louis? You can’t just agree to let me submit the photo of you without there being anything in it for you? Unbelievable.”

Woah, okay, Harry is actually really mad.

“I was joking,” Louis defends, unconvincingly.

“No you weren’t,” Harry spits back.

“Yeah I was!” Louis insists. Clearly, he wasn’t joking but he didn’t know Harry would get so upset. “But, yes, of course you can submit the photo!”

Louis’ enthusiasm may have come across a little bit forced but at least Harry wasn’t yelling at him anymore. He hates that picture and he’s once again only doing something nice for Harry for the sake of Niall.

“O-kay,” Niall draws out when no one says anything more. “Now that, that’s taken care of, how ‘bout another pint?”

“I’ll take 10,” Harry mutters, and for once Louis agrees with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feedback appreciated!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so sorry for how late this is, i've been super busy!  
> enjoy!!!

It’s hard to take a nap when your phone won’t stop ringing.  Louis realizes this after about the 20th time his phone goes off next to him on his bed side table.

He tries to ignore it but curiosity gets the best of him. Sighing, Louis picks his phone up and finds his screen lit up with several iMessage notifications from Niall, Liam and Zayn.

Punching in his passcode and pulling up the group message, Louis is met with an all-caps message from Niall.

**YOU’RE INVITED TO HARRY’S HAPPY HIPSTER BIRTHDAY!!! THIS FRIDAY!!! CLEAR YOUR SCHEDULE ATTENDANCE IS MANDATORY (LOUIS)**

What the fuck is a happy hipster birthday? He continues to scroll through the rest of the messages, mostly just Zayn and Liam responding that they’ll be there.

 _What is this ?_ Louis types back.

**Harry’s bday is Friday so we’re making it a super hipster day bc it’s probs hard for him to be away from his fam for this ya know?**

_What qualifies as a “hipster” birthday ???_

**We’re going to Camden Market so Harry can buy some hipster things and then we’ll take him to Shoreditch so he can look at street art and take pics and stuff…then the most important part…pub crawl!!!**

Bless Niall for adding alcohol to this event but Louis’ not even sure he can endure the first half of the events sober. 

Before Louis can reply, another text comes in from Niall.

**Also don’t tell Harry…it’s a surprise!**

Like Louis would tell Harry. Louis tries to avoid talking to Harry.  He’s not going to go out of his way to tell Harry that Niall is planning him a “happy hipster birthday.”  It’s honestly one of the most ridiculous things Louis has ever heard but then again, everything that has to do with Harry is ridiculous. 

**

The rest of the week passes fairly uneventfully, and Louis honestly probably would’ve forgotten about Harry’s birthday extravaganza if it wasn’t for the fact that Niall reminds him every single day.  It’s slightly annoying and Louis highly doubts Harry would really care that much if Louis didn’t show up.  He would probably even prefer if he didn’t.

“Hey! You showed up!” Niall says as a way of greeting as Louis walks into Niall and Liam’s flat.

Plopping down on the couch next to Liam, Louis rolls his eyes. “I didn’t know there was any doubt that I wouldn’t come.”

“Of course we doubted you were coming, mate. Have you talked to Zayn he should be here by now,” Liam comments.

Louis shrugs. “Nope. Haven’t talked to him. So, when’s our little birthday boy going to make his appearance.”

“He should be here in abut twenty minutes.  This is gonna be so great.  He has no idea!” Niall explains, excitedly. 

“You’re lucky I don’t like talking to Harry, otherwise I probably would have ruined the surprise already.”

Niall throws a crisp at Louis out the bag he’s eating. “I can’t wait until you stop pretending you hate Harry.”

He’s not pretending.

Harry shows up twenty minutes later, just like Niall said, but unsurprisingly they’re still waiting for Zayn.  Just as Niall had hoped, Harry is completely surprised.  He even tears up a little bit, which Louis makes fun of him for.

“Sorry, I just get emotional when people do nice things for me,” Harry sniffs as he wipes his eyes.

“No need to apologize,” Niall says, clapping Harry on the back. “As soon as Zayn gets here we’ll start your special day.  You’re gonna love it.”

Harry smiles. “Thanks guys, seriously. I really appreciate it, especially, um, Louis,” Harry stutters, eyes flitting over to where Louis is sitting on the couch. “I wouldn’t think you would want to come so, thank you.”

Louis does feel a little guilty at Harry’s words.  He hasn’t been the nicest to him but Harry hasn’t been the greatest flatmate either.

“Yeah, um. You’re welcome,” Louis offers a smile, only feeling slightly awkward.

Luckily, Zayn saves the day by walking in before anything more can be said.

“Finally,” Liam whines. “We’ve been waiting for ages. It’s Harry’s birthday, only he’s allowed to be late.”

“Sorry,” Zayn shrugs, unfazed. “Happy birthday, Harry.”

They make their way out of the flat and down the street to the tube station.  Louis tries not to pay too much attention to Harry’s stupid grin on his face the entire walk there.  It’s not cute.  It’s annoying.

Taking the tube one stop over to London Bridge, and transferring to the Northern Line, twenty minutes later, they end up in Camden.

“So this is Camden Market,” Niall explains as they make their way up the escalator.  “You’ll fit right in.”

Harry smiles at that.  “So what are we doing here?”

“Whatever you want,” Niall shrugs. “It’s a market so buy all the hipster stuff you want, and there’s street food if you’re hungry.  Maybe get some souvenirs.  It’s your day, Harry. You tell us what we’re doing.”

Louis refrains from rolling his eyes.  Niall is being a great friend and all, but if it’s up to Harry they’re probably going to spend the day reading poetry or some shit, and never make it to the pub crawl.  The promise of a pub crawl at the end of this is the only thing keeping Louis alive at this point and the day has only just started.

As soon as they’re out of the tube station Louis can hear the click of Harry’s camera taking pictures of their surroundings.  Louis loves Camden Market, don’t get him wrong, but he’s never been here with someone like Harry who appreciates art and all the other things sold here.

They stop in several stores that look appealing to Harry and take a walk through the street food. 

Harry ends up buying a few trinkets for a few of his friends back home and decides that he’ll have to come back another day so he can buy some art pieces.

“Louis, you’ll come back with me right?” Harry asks, nudging Louis’ shoulder on their way back to the tube station.

Louis turns and glare at him. “I’ve taken you enough places, don’t you think?”

“This is only the beginning,” Harry smiles before skipping off to talk to Niall.

Running a hand through his hair, Louis catches Zayn’s smirk out of the corner of his eye.  Louis just flips him off, reaching into his pocket to fish out his Oyster Card.

They get back on the tube and make their way to Shoreditch High Street, which Louis thinks is kind of stupid considering they were nowhere near there but he decides not to voice his opinion for once because he’s sure he’ll have much more to complain about as the day progresses.

As they get off the tube, Niall explains to Harry that he thinks Harry would really enjoy the street art in the area, and it’ll be perfect photo ops for him.

“This is so cool,” Harry murmurs as they’re walking down Brick Lane.  Shoreditch isn’t a place Louis has spent much time in, so he finds it pretty interesting too. “Louis! Oh my god, stand in front of that!” Harry exclaims, pointing to some artwork ahead of them.

 _Here we go again_ , Louis thinks to himself. “I’m good, but if you really want I’ll take a picture of you in front of it.  You can post it on your little Instagram.”

“No,” Harry frowns. “I want a picture of you, Louis.  You’re my model remember?”

No, Louis most certainly does not remember. “When did we decided I’m your model? I, for one, only recall us fighting about that one picture.  Ask Zayn to pose.  He’s more model like than me.”

“It’s my birthday though, Louis.  You have to do what I say! Plus, I don’t want Zayn to pose. I want you.”

Louis doesn’t think about Harry’s words for too long before turning to Niall for help, which he realizes is a mistake the second he does it.  He only finds Niall glaring at him.

“You heard him, Lou.  It’s his birthday.  Go stand over there.  It won’t kill you.”

“You don’t know that, Niall! What if a car comes and hits me while I’m over there?”

Niall rolls his eyes, pushing Louis in the direction of the street art. “Shut the fuck up.”

Harry only smiles as Louis walks towards him.

“Okay, just stand in front of it and look at the camera. Don’t smile,” Harry instructs, bringing his camera up to his eyes.

“Lookin’ good, Lou,” Zayn calls from behind Harry while Liam throws Louis a thumbs up.

Naturally, Louis flips them off.

“Hey! No vulgar hand gestures allowed in my photography!” Harry complains.

“I told you not to use me as a model,” Louis points out.

Snapping a few more pictures, Harry finally declares they can move on a minute later. “Aesthetically pleasing as always,” Harry winks, looking down at the little screen on his camera.

“Thanks,” Louis mutters just as Harry’s phone rings.

“Hello?” Harry answers, falling behind the rest of the group. Louis wonders for a moment how much money it’s costing Harry to have all these phone calls and texts coming in all the time.  Straining his ears, Louis tries to listen to what Harry’s saying.  He can’t help but notice that Harry’s always frowning at his phone, punching at the keys as he texts.

“Good morning, thanks babe.  Yeah it’s about 4:30 over here.” Babe? Who’s Harry calling babe? “Yeah good birthday so far.  I wish you could be there though.” He wishes who could be here? Louis has so many questions, he won’t dare ask Harry, because it’s not like he really wants to know the answers or anything.  Harry’s just mysterious, so, yeah.  But, he can’t quite ignore that feeling in his stomach that’s been around a lot ever since Harry got here.

“I think so,” Harry continues, and pauses as the person on the other line speaks. “What do you expect? For me to sit inside and not doing anything on my birthday? You’re being ridicu-“ Harry huffs. “No, listen, you’re being ridiculous.” 

There’s a long pause and Louis thinks the conversation might be over.

“No,” Harry’s cuts in again. “Okay, well, we’ll talk when you realize how ridiculous you’re being. Have a good day.” Louis hears Harry let out a long sigh from behind them.  He can tell Niall was listening to the whole conversation too from the look on his face.

Niall pats Louis on the back and stops to wait up for Harry.  He tries to listen to what Niall’s saying but he’s whispering.

“Alright!” Niall says a few minutes later, a little too enthusiastically. He jogs over to catch up with Louis, Zayn, and Liam. “I think we’ve had enough here.  Time to start drinking!”

“Couldn’t agree more!” Louis pipes up, more than relieved.

“Where’s Harry?” Liam asks.

Niall points behind them.  “He’s back there. He’ll be fine, just needs a few drinks which is why we’re heading to the pub right now.”

“There’s a good one just a street over,” Zayn suggests. 

They all agree to start their pub crawl at the one Zayn suggested and begin to head that way.  It’s still late afternoon so the pub isn’t too crowded yet despite the fact that it’s Friday.  There’s an empty booth towards the back and they all slide in.

“Okay, so, here’s the rules,” Niall smiles.

“There’s rules to a pub crawl?” Liam asks, skeptically.

“Well, just one,” he continues. “Everyone must buy at least one round of drinks tonight, except Harry. And I guess, rule number two, get drunk as fuck. Who wants to buy the first round?”

“I will,” Zayn shrugs, easing his way out of the booth and towards the bar.

He comes back several minutes later with a round of shots and a pint for everyone. 

As the night continues they move from pub to pub, Louis watching Harry frown the entire time.  Honestly, he feels kind of bad.  It’s his birthday after all.

When they reach pub number six, it’s safe to say Louis is drunk as fuck and Harry is finally smiling.  Louis thinks Harry is probably pretty drunk too.  He seems like a lightweight despite the fact that he isn’t small.

“Hi,” Harry says as Louis takes a seat next him at their sixth pub.

“Are you okay?” Louis asks.  He mentally slaps himself as soon as the words leave his mouth.  He told himself he wouldn’t ask Harry anything about his phone call earlier, but he’s drunk and doesn’t exactly have the best control over his mouth at this currently point in time.

Harry furrows his eyebrows. “Why wouldn’t I be? It’s my birthday.” He even adds on a transparent smile.

“Right, because you haven’t been moping all night.  Ever since your phone rang in Shoreditch.”

“It’s stupid,” Harry shakes his head. “I’d rather just forget about it.”

Louis studies Harry’s face.  He wants to say more, ask why it happens almost every time his phone rings, but Harry clearly doesn’t want to talk about.

“You should buy me a birthday drink,” Harry suggests, pulling Louis out of his thoughts.  There’s a hint of a smirk on his face, like he knows Louis is going to give in and buy him one.

“I could, but I already bought a round.”

“I didn’t say to buy a round, I said you could buy a drink for _me_ ,” Harry clarifies, downing the drink that was set in front of him minutes before, proving that he’s in need of another drink.

Without another word, Louis gets out of his seat to go buy Harry a drink because apparently he’s weak when he’s drunk, and apparently Harry’s persuasive when he’s drunk.  Balancing himself for a moment, he realizes he’s a little drunker than he thought.

“Lou, where you going?” Zayn asks from across the table.

Pointing in the direction of the bar, Louis says, “Going to get a drink for Harry.”

Zayn raises his eyebrows and Louis catches Liam give Niall a look.  His friends are weird.

“I’ll come with,” Zayn declares. 

Louis orders a drink for himself and Harry, and looks over to Zayn expectantly.

“I don’t want anything,” Zayn tells the bartender.

“Why’d you come with then?” Louis questions, fishing a few notes out of his pocket to pay.

“Just wanted to check up on you.  Make sure you’re okay.”

“Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

Zayn looks back over at the table and then looks at Louis. “You’re buying a drink for Harry.”

“It’s his birthday, Zayn,” he explains.  He hands the money to the bartender and accepts the two drinks.

They dodge through the crowded pub, and back towards the table.

“You hate Harry.”

“I don’t hate Harry.”

“I know,” Zayn smirks. “I just wanted to hear you say it.”

“Right…”Louis murmurs to himself, slightly confused about that entire conversation he just had. He knows he’s pretty wasted but that was just really confusing. Although, most conversations with Zayn tend to be more like puzzles.

He sets the two drinks down on the table as he sits down and slides on over to Harry. “Here you go, birthday boy.”

Harry’s face lights up. “Thanks, Louis,” Harry grins, placing a warm hand on Louis’ thigh for a moment. 

Louis glances down at his thigh, where Harry’s hand was just a second ago.  He can still feel it there, as if Harry’s hand burned his skin. 

“You’re, uh, you’re welcome,” he stutters before reaching for his drink and downing half of it in one go.

He feels too aware of Harry’s presence next to him.  He tries to listen to the story Niall is telling about something he and Harry did back in America but he can’t quite focus on it.  He can feel Harry laughing next to him and it’s distracting.

“Oi! Hey!” Niall yells in the middle of his story, startling Louis. Two guys who look vaguely familiar approach their table. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Just popped in for a drink,” the guy on the left says.

“Guys, this is Greg and Nick.  We all work together.” Everyone around the table says hi, introducing themselves. “I’d ask you lads to join us, but we don’t seem to have much room.

“We can make it work,” Harry speaks up. “Louis’ small, he can just fit on my lap!” Before Louis even has time to think about what Harry just said, Louis’ being pulled onto Harry’s lap. “See! Plenty of room!”

“Uh,” Niall laughs, as Louis tries to control his racing heart. “Well, looks like we do have room after all.  Take a seat!”

Obviously, Louis’ heart is racing because he was startled by Harry’s sudden movement, pulling Louis onto his lap.  It’s definitely not because of the fact that he’s sitting on Harry’s lap.

“What the fuck?” Louis hisses, turning to look at Harry.

Harry just shrugs, grinning. “Just trying to make room for Niall’s friend,” he explains, resting a hand on Louis’ thigh like he did before, except this time he leaves it there. Okay.

“You can’t just do that, Harry.  You assaulted me.”

“No I didn’t,” he scoffs. “Plus I don’t see you trying to move off my lap.”

Fair point.

Louis opens his mouth to argue but Harry just sushes him. “Sh, I love this song. I’m trying to listen.”

It’s so loud in the pub, Louis has to strain his ears to figure out what song it is. He can only figure it out when Harry starts singing along.

 _“When I’m fucked up, that’s the real me,”_ Harry sings.

Louis freezes.  He’s fucking trapped sitting on Harry’s lap while Harry is practically singing the Weeknd into his ear.  How did this even happen? Harry doesn't even seem like the type of person who would listen to The Weeknd. 

He sends a look across the table but Niall only laughs.

Maybe he won’t remember this in the morning. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feedback would be great! i'll try to stick to updating on Tuesdays like I said before!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter 5! posted in the middle of the night lol  
> Thank you everyone for your kind words so far. I'm glad you guys are enjoying it!

Louis wakes up in his bed with absolutely no memory of how he got there.  The only thing he knows is that his head is pounding and he’s still wearing his clothes from last night.

He fumbles for his phone and finds it on the complete opposite side of the bed with only 2% battery left.  How much did he drink last night?

Plugging his phone in, Louis scrolls through his notifications.  There’s a text from Niall which he opens first. Louis’ eyebrows shoot straight up as soon as he sees it.  It’s a picture of him sitting on Harry’s lap, Harry’s arm tight around Louis’ waist. All Niall sent along with it is a little message that reads: **cozy night last night ;)**

Louis doesn’t remember this at all. There’s no way he was sitting on Harry’s lap last night.  There’s no way he would allow Harry to wrap his arm around Louis’ waist like that.

_pls tell me u photoshop this?_ Louis types back.

Setting his phone down on his bedside table, Louis heads for the shower. Thankfully he didn’t forget about the fact that he has work in two hours.  It’s not an ideal way to spend a hangover, but at least it’s a distraction from the fact that he was on Harry’s fucking lap last night.  He prays to God that’s the only thing that happened between them. 

As Louis showers, he attempts to piece together the night, remembering when they started their pub crawl in Shoreditch.  He vaguely remembers making it to the last pub, but how he got on Harry’s lap is the mystery.  He’d ask Niall but Niall would probably tell him some dramatic story that isn’t true.  He could ask Harry but that would require talking to Harry so that’s out of the question.

As the day goes on, Louis remembers more of the night while repetitively making Frappuccinos for fifteen year old girls.  During his break, he looks over Snapchat stories and when he sees Niall’s, a picture of him with his two coworkers, it all comes back to Louis.  Harry had scooped him up without even asking to make room for Nick and Greg.  Rude, honestly.  Harry has absolutely no boundaries which Louis does not like. 

By 6, when Louis’ shift finally ends, he’s no longer hungover, but completely exhausted from working an eight hour shift on what feels like two hours of sleep.  He can’t wait to get home, eat something, and fall straight into bed for the remainder of the evening.

His plans, however, are changed as soon as he walks in the door to find a very angry looking Harry, sitting on the couch, drinking straight out of a half drank bottle of red wine.

It’s a little concerning considering they drank enough to destroy their livers just less than twenty-four hours ago. 

“Uh,” Louis clears his throat, shrugging out of his coat. “Are you okay?”

Harry looks over to where Louis is walking towards him and nods before taking another swig of wine.

Clearly, he’s not okay.  Louis isn’t exactly sure what to do so awkwardly takes a seat next to Harry.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Louis asks. He may not get along with Harry most days, but he isn’t completely heartless. “I mean, obviously something is wrong.”

“I’m fine, Louis,” Harry grumbles, distractedly running his finger around the rim of the bottle.

The silence stretches on between them for a few minutes, the only sound is the sloshing of the wine moving in the bottle every time Harry takes a drink.

If Harry isn’t going to say anything, there’s no point in Louis being here.  He isn’t going to beg Harry to tell him what’s wrong.  Sighing, Louis moves to get up off the couch but stops when he feels Harry’s hand on his arm.

“Stay,” Harry murmurs.

Sighing again, Louis sits back down, sprawling out on his side of the couch.  He has a feeling he’s going to be here a while. 

Harry offers him the wine bottle and for whatever reason Louis accepts it, bringing it up to his mouth and taking a long swig of the red wine despite the fact that up until about two hours ago he was still hung over.

They pass the bottle back and forth between each other in silence until it’s empty, and Louis really wishes he knew what this was all about.

He watches as Harry takes the last drink, draining every last drop, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down.  Harry removes the bottle from his lips and distracted picks at the label.

“Have you ever been in love?” Harry asks, suddenly. The sound of Harry’s voice startles Louis after being silent for so long.

Louis shifts on the couch, thinking about Harry’s question which is completely random.

“Um, no. I don’t think so,” Louis answers.  “I’ve loved people, sure. But I’ve never been in love.”

Harry only nods at Louis’ answer.

Louis doesn’t like to waste time with the wrong people, is the thing.  If the right person comes along, then that’s great but he’s not going to force something with someone he knows isn’t worth his time.

“Have you ever, um, been in love?” Louis asks after a minute.  He’s not sure if Harry wanted him to ask.  He’s not sure of anything really.

Harry laughs, a bitter laugh. “Why do you think I’m sitting here drinking wine straight from the bottle?”

Well, that doesn’t exactly answer Louis’ question.

“What do you-?” Louis begins to ask before Harry cuts him off, still picking at the label on the empty bottle.

“My girlfriend is back home in the States,” Harry begins, and Louis can’t help but feel a bit shocked.  Harry never mentioned a girlfriend before.  Although it does make sense.  The phone calls and constant texting, the girl on Harry’s Instagram. “She, um, she doesn’t get all this,” Harry says, vaguely gesturing with his hand.

Louis isn’t exactly sure what to say, but luckily he doesn’t have to say anything because Harry continues to talk.

“She’s three thousand fucking miles away and she tries to fucking control me,” he spits. “I came here to explore, to experience a new culture, to see the world.  This is my dream and she doesn’t fucking get that!”

 “What do you mean, she tries to control you?” Louis asks, wishing he had some more wine for this conversation.

Harry rubs his hand over his face. “She literally gets mad when I do anything besides go to class,” Harry explains, looking at Louis. “This is supposed to be the best time of my life, and don’t get me wrong, I’m having fun, but I’m not fucking happy. I love her, I do, but sometimes I can’t help but wonder if it’s worth it. I mean, in her eyes I can never do anything fucking right. It’s exhausting.”

She sounds fucking crazy if you ask Louis.  He would’ve dropped her in a heartbeat.  Louis wants to tell Harry that it’s not worth it to ruin your dream over someone who doesn’t even treat your properly, but he feels like it’s not really his place to say anything.

“Have you tried to explain to her how much this trip means to you?” Louis asks carefully.

“You have no idea how many times,” Harry sighs. “You have no idea how much I do for her without getting as little as a thank you.”

Harry’s words make Louis’ stomach twist.

“I know what you’re probably thinking,” Harry murmurs, looking over at Louis. “You’re wondering why the fuck I’m still with her then, right?”

Louis nods weakly.

“I love her,” he states. 

 They’re silent after that, Louis lost in thought thinking about all that Harry just said.  Harry, too exhausted from his mental breakdown to speak.

Louis looks up from where he was playing with a loose thread on his shirt to find Harry already looking at him.  He sends Harry a sympathetic smile.

“Did you have a good birthday?” Louis asks, trying to lighten the mood with a different topic.

Harry smiles at Louis’ words. “Yeah, it was really fun,” he admits. “Thanks for coming.”

“Like I would miss your birthday,” Louis jokes.

“I mean, yeah, you probably would miss my birthday,” Harry points out. “I hope my lap was comfy enough for you though.”

Louis’ eyes go wide in shock.  That was something Louis was definitely not going to acknowledge, and he had sincerely hoped that it was something Harry hadn’t remembered.

He opens his mouth, but no words come out.

“I see,” Harry smirks. “I’ve left you speechless.”

“Oh you wish, Styles,” Louis fires back in attempt to cover up how flustered he is.

Harry just shrugs. “Right. Well, my lap is always reserved for you.  We just won’t be telling my girlfriend, will me?”

For what feels like the hundredth time tonight, Louis isn’t sure what to say, and it’s something he’s not used to.  He always gets the last word in, no matter what. out of all the things Harry has said tonight, these are the ones that make Louis think the most.

**

At some point Harry turns the TV on and Louis deems it an appropriate time to sneak away into his room.

As soon as he’s in the safety of his room, he shuts the door and pulls his phone out of his pocket, immediately dialing Zayn’s number.

“Hello?” Zayn answers on the fourth ring.

“Harry has a girlfriend.”

“So?”

“ _So,_ ” Louis draws out. “Remember, you asked me if I thought he was into guys? Well he has a girlfriend who he loves, like a lot but she treats him like shit.”

“Doesn’t mean he isn’t into guys,” Zayn points out.

“Oh. Yeah, true,” Louis agrees.

Louis hears Zayn laugh on the other end of the phone which is weird because he’s pretty positive he hasn’t said anything funny. And it’s not like Zayn let out a little chuckle, he’s full on laughing.

“What Zayn?”

“You do realize what just happened, right?” Zayn questions.

Furrowing his eyebrows, Louis thinks back to what was just said. “No?”

“You basically just admitted you care whether or not Harry is into guys.”

What the fuck, no he didn’t.

“What the fuck, no I didn’t.”

“Yes you did.”

“No I didn’t,” Louis argues.

“Oh my God, you’re a child,” Zayn huffs. “Tell me that next to you’re sitting on Harry’s lap.”

Louis grumbles his way over to his bed, falling back dramatically, laying starfished in the middle of his soft mattress.

“Can everyone shut up about that?” Louis pleads. “First Niall, then Harry, and now you! I didn’t even do anything! Harry put me there!”

“Wait! What did Harry say about it?”

He realizes he probably shouldn’t have mentioned that part to Zayn but it’s too late now.  Zayn always gets the truth out of Louis eventually.

“Oh, you know how Harry is.  He was all like _I hope my lap was comfy enough for you,_ ” Louis imitates in a bad American accent, making his voice deeper. “And then he said some shit about how his lap is always reserved for me as long as we don’t tell his girlfriend.”

“Shit,” Zayn murmurs. “This is juicier than I thought.”

“Yeah, when did my life become an episode of some dumb TV drama?”

Zayn snorts. “You’ve always been dramatic.”

“I’m just gonna blame Niall for all of this.”

“Whatever you gotta do, but we’re in for an interesting term.  Got my popcorn ready and everything.”

Louis closes his eyes, rubbing a hand over his temple.  The feeling of a headache coming on. “Whatever. I’m going to bed.  You’re stressing me out.”

“Alright, mate. Goodnight. Sweet dreams about you and Harry.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Love you too, Lou.”

If Zayn was there Louis would smack him but instead he just hangs up, tossing his phone onto his bedside table, not even bothering to change out of his clothes for the second night in a row.

A goodnight sleep can fix almost anything, and Louis hopes that’s true of this situation too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> I'm leaving Saturday for spring break so I'll try to update before then!  
> As always, feedback appreciated and feel free to follow/come talk to me on tumblr.  
> www.headscarvesandtattoos.tumblr.com


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> surprise! an update two days in a row!  
> as I mentioned in last chapter's notes I'm leaving for Spring break on Saturday so I wanted to make sure to update once more before I leave since I won't be able to next Tuesday.  
> Enjoy!

As the days pass after the whole sharing a bottle of wine while Harry talks about how he loves his girlfriend incident, Harry continues to mope around.  Louis almost feels bad for him but he can’t even pretend to understand why Harry is wasting his time on someone who’s making him so miserable.  Especially when that person is thousands of miles away.

“So, when are you going to stop acting so miserable?” Louis asks one morning while he and Harry are both in the kitchen eating breakfast. 

Louis watches as Harry moves the eggs around on his plate. “I’m not miserable,” he grumbles. “And why do you even care?”

That’s a good question.  Louis isn’t sure why he even started this conversation.

“Uh, well you’re my flat mate,” Louis points out, taking a bite of his toast. “So, if you act all negative, it, you know, affects the energy of this flat.”

Harry looks up from his plate, eyes cold as he stares at Louis. “So you’re making my problems about yourself. Generous as always, Louis.”

Louis mentally smacks himself, realizing he’s only making this worse. “No, I-“ he tries to backtrack before Harry cuts him off.

“Save it, Louis,” Harry breathes out, getting up and setting his dishes in the sink.  He grabs his backpack and is out the door without another word.

Sighing, Louis pulls out his phone, and opens his messages to text Niall.  He’s going to get to the bottom of this.  Although, he’s not exactly sure why he feels the need to do that.  Harry’s too mysterious and Louis doesn’t like not knowing things.

_Did you know Harry’s girlfriend when you lived in America???_

Louis takes his plate over to the sink and washes it along with Harry’s, waiting for Niall’s response.  He puts the clean dishes away and walks over to the table to retrieve his phone when he hears it vibrate against the wood of the kitchen table.

 **Unfortunately,** Niall types back.

Unfortunately? That’s an odd response.

_Why’s that?_

Niall’s response is almost instantaneous.

**One of the most stuck up people I’ve ever met.  Harry’s an idiot for being with her but he’s been chasing after her for years.**

Years? How long have they been together? Maybe that’s why Harry’s still with her, because he had been trying to get her for so long.

_How long have they been together?_

**Why so many questions? Hahahahahaha I’m on to you Louis! They’ve been together for like 6 months or something like that. Why don’t you just ask Harry himself?**

No way in hell Louis would ask Harry these questions especially after what just happened during breakfast.

_Harry hates me lol_

Niall doesn’t respond after that and Louis deems it time to focus on something else instead of Harry.  He hulls himself upstairs and plops down onto his bed.  Opening his laptop, Louis lets out a long sigh.  His coursework has been piling up and now seems like as good time as ever to make a dent in it.

**

Several hours later, and barely a dent in his coursework, Louis hears someone ,who he presumes is Harry, enter the flat.

He listens as Harry bangs around in the kitchen before he hears him make his way up the stairs and into his own room. 

Honestly, Louis feels bad.  Harry’s been in a shitty mood and he only made it worse this morning. 

Louis is so deep in thought, zoning out, that he doesn’t even realize Harry is standing in the doorway of his room.

Awkwardly, Harry coughs, leaning against the door frame, making Louis jump.

“Holy shit, Harry!” Louis exclaims, snapping his head in Harry’s direction. “Scared the shit out of me.”

“Sorry,” Harry murmurs, a hint of a smile on his face.  Probably the first one Louis has seen in days.

When Harry doesn’t say anything, Louis asks, “Do you, um, need something?” He doesn’t want to come across as rude but he doesn’t think Harry has ever come this close to his room before so he’s not exactly sure what Harry’s doing.  Especially considering their little fight they had just a few hour ago.

“Sorry,” Harry apologizes again, scratching the back of his neck. “Do you want to maybe go up the road for a pint? With me?”

Louis doesn’t want to.  He really doesn’t want to, or at least that’s what he tells himself.  It’s a bad idea and he has no idea why Harry’s asking him, but he finds himself nodding yes.

“I guess I’ll get my coat then?” Louis says in more of a question than a statement.

The two make the short walk down the street to the pub silently, and it’s more than a little awkward, the only sound is their shoes against the pavement.

When they get inside Harry murmurs to Louis to go find them a seat as he walks over to the bar.

A few minutes later he’s back with two pints, sliding one across the table to Louis.

He’s pleasantly surprised to find that Harry got him his favorite kind.  He takes a long drink, unsure of what else to do.

“So,” Harry breaks the silence.  “You’re probably wondering why I asked you to come here, especially after I stormed out this morning.”

“Honestly, yes,” Louis answers, running his fingers over the condensation on the outside of his pint glass.

“Well, first of all, I want to say sorry,” Harry says sincerely. “I’ve been in a bad mood and I really am sorry.  You didn’t do anything wrong this morning.”

“No, I shouldn’t have said anything.  It’s none of my business.”

Harry takes a sip of his beer before answering. “Either way, I’m sorry for acting like a brat lately.  I’ve just been having a hard time.”

Louis smiles sympathetically.  There’s a lot of things Louis could say but he’s sure Harry doesn’t want to hear his opinions.

“There’s something else I want to talk to you about,” Harry says after a few moments of silence.

Raising his eyebrows in question, Louis nods for Harry to go on.

“Well, I’m sure you remember the photo I took of you at St. Paul’s,” Harry smirks.

Louis refrains from rolling his eyes.  He had forgotten about that whole fiasco.

“Oh yes, I remember.”

“Well,” Harry draws out. “My teacher really liked it. Loved it actually.”

“Wow, well congratulations,” Louis says.

Harry laughs, tipping his head back. “God, you’re really gonna hate what I’m about say.”

Well, that makes Louis slightly nervous.  He takes another generous sip from his cold beer.

“You’re scaring,” he mutters.

“Sorry,” Harry says for what feels like the hundredth time since they got to the pub. “The picture is being featured in an art show,” he explains slowly.

He waits for Louis’ reaction before continuing.  Louis practically chokes on his beer.

“An art show?” Louis asks, his voice an octave higher than normal, but he attempts to sound nonchalant.

Harry nods. “I know you don’t like it but it means a lot to me, and it would also mean a lot to me if you, like, came with me? To the art show?”

Louis feels a shock go through his body, clearly not expecting to hear what Harry just said.  He opens his mouth before closing it again.

“I mean, you don’t have to,” Harry quickly adds. “But, you are in the picture after all.”

It’s just that Louis has done nothing but give Harry a hard time since he got here, and here they are sitting in a pub, drinking a pint Harry bought for him while Harry tells him it would mean a lot to him if Louis came to the art show with him.  Harry is something else. 

“You really want me to go with you?” Louis asks.

Nodding, Harry knocks his knuckles against Louis’ where they’re sitting on the table. “It’s this weekend.  I would’ve told you sooner, but I only just found out today.”

“Yeah, no, I understand.”

Harry smiles. “How about I got get us another pint and you can think about it while I’m gone.”

Before Louis can answer, Harry’s gone.  He watches as Harry walks towards the bar, long legs and all.

There’s been a lot of bizarre days since Harry arrived in London but today might take the prize.  How does a day go from Harry storming out of the flat to Harry buying him pints and asking him to attend his art show? Louis doesn’t get it, and it drives him insane.

He’s good at figuring people out.  He always knows what to say and always gets the last word.  With Harry, it’s the complete opposite.  Harry is a curveball who often leaves Louis speechless. It’s not something he’s used to.

Harry comes back a minute later, setting down another pint in front of Louis.

“Thanks,” Louis responds into his glass as he takes a drink, letting the cold liquid slide down his throat. 

He’s trying to buy time.

“You’re welcome,” Harry replies, knocking his glass against Louis’ before taking a drink of his own beer.

“So, yeah,” Louis stutters. “I’ll go to the thing.”

“The thing,” Harry beams.

Louis smiles to. “I can’t pretend to understand the whole art thing, but.”

“It’s okay.  It’s not for everyone.  A lot of people don’t understand the things I like, but I don’t really mind.”

Louis can only give Harry a small smile and offer to buy the next round.

**

The rest of the week passes quickly and before Louis knows it, it’s Saturday, the day of the art show. 

He had decided not to mention to any of his friends that he was going because he knew what kind of reaction that would cause.  He’s tempted to tell Zayn about it though, because he’s been standing in front of his closet for the past twenty minutes with not even a hint of an idea what to wear and he has to be ready to go in fifteen minutes.

Zayn would be able to help him, but he doesn’t need Zayn making a big deal about this.  Because it’s not a big deal.  And also, if he asked for Zayn’s advice on what to wear, that would mean he cares, and Louis definitely doesn’t care.

In the end, he decides on a pair of tight black skinnies, a graphic t-shirt, and a black blazer on top of it.  He has no idea whatsoever if this is considered acceptable, but he doesn’t have time to fix it.  Quickly, Louis checks his hair in the mirror one last time before making his way downstairs where Harry is waiting for him.

“Oh,” Louis lets out upon seeing Harry’s appearance.

Harry furrows his eyebrows, “Huh?”

“Nothing,” Louis shakes his head. “It’s just, your shirt.  It’s, like, barely buttoned.”

It’s true.  Harry’s wearing tight black pants with a black button down which looks like it has only two buttons done up.

Harry just shrugs.  “Gotta let the butterfly get some air,” Harry points to the giant butterfly tattoo on his stomach in which Louis has never seen before.

“You have a giant butterfly tattooed on your stomach?” Louis asks incredulously.

“His name’s Alfred,” Harry smiles.

“Alfred?” Louis scoffs. “Every time I think you can’t get more ridiculous, you get more ridiculous.”

“You’ve offended him, Louis.”

“Like I said, ridiculous,” Louis sighs, making his way towards the door.

The tube is pretty crowded as it’s a Saturday night and they’re headed towards Central London so they have to stand, crammed together in the middle of the crowd.

“Is this your first art show?” Harry asks, quietly next to Louis.

“Obviously.”

“Well, I’m honored to be the first one to take you to one,” Harry smiles proudly.

Harry’s words make Louis slightly uneasy, but they soon arrive at their stop, and Louis gets distracted trying to weave through the crowd attempting to exit the tube station.

“You look nice, by the way,” Harry compliments, nudging his arm against Louis’ as they walk side by side.

He has no idea where this thing is, so he hopes that Harry knows where they’re going, and isn’t trying to kidnap him or something.

“Oh, uh, thanks,” Louis replies, and he definitely doesn’t blush.  It was just really, hot on the tube is all, so naturally his skin is flushed from that.

They continue to walk in silence for several more minutes.  Just as Louis is about to ask if they’re almost there, Harry stops and announces they’re here.

It’s a very plain, industrial looking building.  Harry opens the door, motioning for Louis to go ahead.  When they walk in, they’re met with room full of people in a large, open space, white walls, with art displayed all over the place. 

There’s servers walking around with drinks and hors d'oeuvres. 

Louis looks around and it’s a bit overwhelming.  Just as he expected, he doesn’t understand any of it.  There’s paintings with what looks like random lines and splotches of paint, sculptures that don’t look like anything, and of course photography which makes a little more sense than the rest, but still a bit weird.

Harry places a hand on Louis’ back which immediately snaps Louis out of his thoughts. 

“I think my picture is this way,” Harry explains, pointing to their left. 

Louis just nods and follows Harry.

Unsurprisingly, he feels a little out of place.  Most of the people here look like the artsy type.  The rest of the people look extremely posh and only pretend to be interested in art. Louis is neither of those categories.

“Here we are!” Harry announces, a proud smile on his face.

Sure enough, there’s Louis’ face hanging on the wall.

“Wow,” he says, mostly to himself.

He can’t lie, the picture does look nice but he’s not going to tell Harry that, of course.  He’s already done enough by coming tonight.

Harry pulls out his phone, snapping a picture of the display.

Turning to Louis, Harry smiles brighter than Louis has seen in days.

“Louis, stand next to it! I wanna take a picture of you next to it.”

“Don’t you have enough pictures of me? My face is literally right there, hanging on the wall.”

Harry frowns, putting on a pouty face. “Please? It’s a special occassion.”

“Fine,” Louis grumbles, walking over to the wall.  Harry takes a picture and then looks around before finding someone nearby.  Louis can’t make out what he’s saying but he’s pointing towards Louis and the person nods and smiles. 

Harry hands his phone to the stranger and then walks towards Louis.

“One more picture,” Harry announces, apologetically.  He comes up next to Louis, wrapping an arm around his waist. “Smile, Louis!”

The stranger takes a picture of them, and Louis forces a smile, but all he can really think about is how big Harry’s hand feels on where it’s resting on his hip.  The stranger moves to hand Harry’s phone back and Harry removes his hand from Louis’ waist.

“Perfect,” Harry murmurs, tapping around on his phone.

A minute later, Harry looks up, pocketing his phone. “Don’t be mad but I may have just added that picture of us on Instagram,” he shrugs, unapologetically.

Rolling his eyes, Louis reaches into his pocket and takes his phone out where there’s an Instagram notification on his phone which he opens immediately.  It opens up to the photo on Harry’s account, the two of them standing together smiling next to Harry’s photo.  He never really realized how much taller Harry is until this photo of them next to each other. Damn you, tall people. Scrolling down, Louis reads the caption,

_Such an honor to have my work featured here tonight.  Thank you to my beautiful model, @Louis_Tommo for allowing me to use this picture.  I owe you ;)_

The picture already has almost 100 likes on it, but the only thing Louis can really focus on is the fact that Harry called him beautiful.  On Instagram.

Blushing, Louis can feel his hands shake a bit.  He looks up from his phone and Harry isn’t standing in front of him anymore which is weird.  Louis swears he only looked down for a second.  Craning his neck, Louis tries to find Harry in the crowd. After a moment, he spots him in the corner on the phone, looking angry, eyebrows furrowed, and dramatic hand gestures.

He can definitely guess who Harry’s on the phone with but he’s pretty positive it’s the middle on the night in America so he can’t even begin to guess what Harry’s girlfriend is pissed about now.

Looking away, Louis distracts himself with his phone, not wanting to intrude on Harry’s private conversation.

“Sorry,” Harry apologizes, breathlessly a few minutes later.

Louis pockets his phone and looks up to find a very upset looking Harry.  It actually makes Louis feel bad.  He knows this night means a lot to Harry.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

“Not really,” Harry admits, running a hand through his long, brown hair. “She’s pissed as hell.”

So Louis was right, it was his girlfriend.

“Why?”

“My Instagram post,” Harry rolls his eyes. “Sorry, Louis.  She hates you.”

Louis scoffs. “What the fuck?”

“I know, it’s stupid,” Harry agrees. “God, it’s so fucking stupid.  She always has to ruin shit for me.”

Harry’s nostrils flare and Louis can tell how pissed Harry is, rightfully so too.  If she really loved Harry, she would be happy for him, but Louis isn’t going to say that.

“Hey, um why don’t we get out of here?” Louis suggests. “Go get drunk or something.”

Laughing, Harry thinks it over.

“Fuck, yeah I could use a drink or two. Let’s go,” Harry agrees, putting a hand on Louis’ back again, leading him out of the building.

Louis may not get a lot of things.  Art, Harry, Harry’s girlfriend, but he does know there’s a light feeling in his chest, lighter than he’s felt in a while.  He doesn’t know what it means but he does know he’s about to get drunk as fuck.  For once it’s not for his own sake, but for Harry’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll try to update by the end of next week but I'll be gone all week on spring break!  
> feedback appreciated!  
>   
> feel free to follow me on tumblr/come to talk to me!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> back from spring break and wanted to update asap so here it is! enjoy!

As time goes on since the art gallery, things have changed at least a little bit between Louis and Harry.  Louis just can’t quite put his finger on what’s different though.  Harry still annoys the living crap out him but it’s just different. 

He’s at work, cleaning off the blender.  Today’s a bit slow which is good and bad.  Louis hates the hectic days but slow can be quite boring.

Just as he finishes up, he hears the door open.  When he looks up, it’s none other than Harry. Great.

“Hey Louis!” Harry greets as he walks in the door, and Louis all but groans.

“Whatever you’re about to order, I refuse to make it.”

Harry removes his sunglasses from his face and pushes them up on his head, walking towards the counter.

“Louis, you have to.  It’s customer service 101.”

“You’re wrong,” Louis grumbles. “You can’t make me do anything.”

“The customer is always right though,” Harry points out, crossing his arms.

“Fine,” Louis sighs. “Tell me what you want and depending on what it is, I’ll make it.”

Harry’s face lights up at that, as his eyes study the menu. “I’ll have the, wait no, I think I’ll try, well,”

“Holy shit, Harry.  Make up your mind.”

That only makes Harry smirk, moving his eyes from the menu to Louis’ impatient face.

“I’ll have a grande skinny Iced Mocha, no whipped crème, and a very small amount of ice.”

Louis stares at Harry for a few seconds before, punching it into the register.  “That’s literally not even an option on the menu, but I guess I’m feeling generous. £4.50”

“Can’t you give me your employee discount?” Harry pouts.

“What the fuck? No I’m not giving you my discount!  You just ordered something that’s not even on the menu!”

“But Louis,” he whines. “You don’t understand.  This is, like, so expensive for me.  Do you even know the dollars to pounds conversion?”

“No. Nor do I care.”

Louis looks over and gives his coworker, who’s making Harry’s drink a sympathetic smile.  As a Starbucks employee, there’s nothing more annoying than orders like these.

“What are you up to today? Don’t you have class?” Louis asks.

“Nope,” Harry answers, popping the p at the end of the word. “Niall and I are going to walk along the Southbank.  He said he’s disappointed you haven’t taken me there yet.”

“You never asked to go there,” Louis shrugs. “I wouldn’t take you there anyway.”

“Here’s your drink, mate,” the barista calls out, handing the drink to Harry, who takes it will a grateful nod.

“Well, I better get going. Don’t wanna keep Niall waiting.  I think we’re going to the pub afterwards so you should meet up with us?” Harry suggests, sipping on his drink.

“Uh, yeah.  I get off in a few hours, so yeah.  Maybe I will,” Louis replies, a little caught off guard by Harry’s invitation.

Harry smiles at Louis’ words and makes his way towards the door. “Okay good. Have a good day, Louis!” And with that, he’s out the door.

Louis watches as Harry leaves and he can’t help but be amazed by how nice Harry is to him despite the hard time Louis gives him.  It’s just something that’s hard for Louis to understand because if he were Harry, he would probably hate Louis.

His last few hours of work pass slowly and by the time Louis is walking out the door he feels like he had just worked twelve hours instead of six.  He sends a quick text to Niall asking what he and Harry are up to as he makes his way home.

When he gets home, Niall texts back that they’re at the pub down the street.

Quickly, Louis changes his clothes and washes his face before heading out the door and back down the street.

Walking into the pub, he immediately sees Niall and Harry sitting at a table in the corner, several pint glasses surrounding them.

“Louis!” Harry calls, immediately spotting Louis at the door.

Louis lets out a chuckle at Harry and makes his way across the room. “Lads,” he greets.

“Louis! You came!” Harry exclaims and Niall laughs at him.

“Yep, here I am.”

“I didn’t think you would.”

“Why?” Louis asks, raising his eyebrows in confusion.

“Because I ordered the drink that wasn’t on the menu today,” Harry practically whispers.

“Are you drunk?”

“No.”

Louis looks over at Niall who just smiles.

“Okay, maybe a little,” Harry admits.

“It’s barely six o’clock,” Louis laughs.

“Harry here is a bit of a lightweight if you haven’t noticed yet,” Niall explains, rolling his eyes fondly at his friend.

Louis just laughs before asking, “How was the Southbank?”

Harry gasps at that, his entire face lighting up. “Louis, it was so nice. I’m gonna take you there.”

“I’ve been there before,” Louis raises his eyebrows.

“Not with me though,” Harry frowns.

And that is how Louis finds himself in front of Tower Bridge the next morning.  As it turns out, Harry is a very persuasive drunk. 

“It’s so amazing, isn’t it? Like, we just don’t have stuff like this in America,” Harry says as he snaps a picture of Tower Bridge.

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” Louis agrees.  He remembers coming here when he would visit London as a kid. 

“Thanks for coming with, by the way,” Harry comments as they start making their way down the Southbank towards Westminster. “I know you hate going places with me, so.”

Louis watches Harry looks down at his feet as he walks.

“Harry,” he sighs. “I don’t hate going places with you.”

“You don’t?” Harry looks up, and Louis watches his green eyes widen in shock.

He smiles, knocking his shoulder into Harry’s, “No.”

“I just feel bad,” Harry starts. “I feel like I always beg you to go places you don’t want to go, and everything is new and exciting for me because, you know, I’m new here, but for you, it’s like, the same old places you’ve already been and don’t want to go back to.  Especially with some random American with a camera.”

“You’re not some ‘random American’,” Louis laughs.

“Well, my point is,” Harry smiles, looking back down at the ground. “I like going places with you.”

He says it so quietly, so soft, Louis almost doesn’t hear it.  But when he looks over at Harry he sees a slight smile on his face, and Louis can feel the blush creeping up on his own face.

If there’s one thing Louis has noticed about Harry, it’s that he’s not afraid to say how he feels, and Louis isn’t sure how to deal with that.

“Harry, can I ask you something?” Louis says after a moment.  He’s not exactly sure how to respond to what Harry said, but if they’re being honest with each other right now, there’s something he wants to know.  When Harry nods, Louis continues. “Why are you with your girlfriend?”

At first, Harry looks up, a bit shocked, but after a moment he nods, understanding why Louis might be curious about this.

Harry breathes out a laugh, taking a few moments before speaking. “I chased her for so long.  I can’t even look back and remember a time that I wasn’t trying to go after her.  She always had boyfriends and I mean I always did too. Um, boyfriends that is, and girlfriends.” 

He pauses, looking over at Louis.  Louis is a bit shocked at Harry’s words.  He’s had his suspicions but he didn’t think Harry would ever outright tell him.  He only nods for Harry to go on, but his thoughts are everywhere as he tries to process Harry’s words.

“None of them were ever serious though,” Harry continues. “It was always about her.  Finally about eight months ago, her and her boyfriend of like a year broke up.  I already knew I was going to be going abroad but I didn’t care, you know? I had to have her, and I finally got her.  I love her a lot. I really do, but right now, I’m not really sure what to do.”

“What do you mean?” Louis asks.

“I do fucking everything for her.  I even offered to pay for her to come visit, and all I get in return is her being pissed at me for everything I do.  I always thought that if you really loved someone, that everything would work out for itself but I’m starting to see how naïve I was about that.  This is supposed to be the best experience of my life, and I don’t want to spend it being controlled by her from across the fucking ocean. You asked me why I’m with her, and honestly, right now I’m not even sure.”

Louis lets Harry’s words sink in for a minute before speaking. “I’m not the best person to be giving out relationship advice, but I don’t think you want to look back on this and remember being miserable the whole time because of her.”

“That’s what Niall said too,” Harry says.

“I don’t like seeing you miserable,” Louis admits quietly, the words escaping his mouth before he even thinks about what he’s saying. 

Harry’s head snaps up at Louis’ words, eyes trained on Louis’ face. “You know, Louis.  For someone who acts like they can’t stand me, you’ve done some nice shit for me.”

Louis opens his mouth to speak but Harry talks before Louis can get a word out. “Do you wanna sit down for a bit?” he asks, pointing to a bench.

Silently, Louis nods. Louis sits down first and Harry is close behind him, plopping down right next to Louis, so close that their thighs are touching despite the fact that they’re the only ones sitting on the bench, plenty of room for both of them.

Harry sighs loudly next to Louis and Louis watches Harry as he looks at their surroundings.

After a few minutes he feels Harry drop his big, warm hand onto Louis’ thigh. “Sometimes I don’t know what’s prettier, you or London,” Harry murmurs, eyes still trained on the buildings across the river.

Louis looks down at Harry’s hand resting on his thigh, as his heart rate picks up.  He doesn’t know how Harry can just say these things.

“Me, obviously,” Louis tries for a joke, unsure of what else to say.

Harry looks over at him then. “You could be right,” he answers, squeezing Louis’ thigh for just a moment.

“You’re something else,” Louis murmurs. “I always get the last word with everyone, but I think you’re the first person who’s ever left me unsure of what to say.” It’s a lot for Louis to admit, and he doesn’t even know what possessed him to say this to Harry, but it felt right.

He watches as Harry’s lips quirk up into a small smile, almost proud.

They let silence fall in between them as they watch the people around them come and go.

“Should we head back?” Harry says after a while. “Could use a nap.”

“Yeah, sure.  I could probably sleep too.  Woke me up at the crack of dawn to come here.”

“It was 9 AM, Louis. That’s not the crack of dawn,” Harry chuckles, squeezing Louis’ thigh again before getting up.

They make the walk back to the flat and it’s mostly silent between the two of them, but it’s comfortable.  Louis has a lot on his mind.  Harry said a lot of things today that he needs to process.

“Thanks for coming today,” Harry murmurs when they’re back inside the flat.

“It wasn’t terrible,” Louis smiles. “Nap time it is.”

Louis turns to make his way up the stairs but he’s brought to an abrupt stop when Harry grabs his wrist.

He looks up at Harry with questioning eyes, but Harry just smiles and leans down to plant a tender kiss to Louis’ cheek. “Sweet dreams, Lou,” He murmurs before heading upstairs without another word, and before Louis can even realize what just happened.

His mind is racing as he lies in bed, it takes hours before he finally falls asleep, and when he does, he dreams about Harry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feedback appreciated! follow me on tumblr!!
> 
> I'll be back to updated on Tuesday's next week!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a few hours early but here's the next chapter!  
> pretty important one!  
> enjoy!

Thursdays are Louis’ busiest days.  He works in the morning and then has to go to class until 5.  It’s annoying and it’s exhausting, and it pisses him off.  He’s just gotten off the tube and is making his way home from a long Thursday.  He had a paper due today and now that it’s done and over with, he wants to go out.  Actually, he wants to go out and get drunk as fuck if he’s being honest.

When he walks in the door, he didn’t expect to find Niall, Zayn, Liam, and Harry all sprawled out in the living room drinking beers but he’s glad they’re there.  That way he doesn’t have to go through the hassle of sending out a group message to everyone.

“Lads,” Louis greets. “Glad you’re all here.  We’re going out tonight.”

He’s immediately met with a collective group groan.

“What the fuck? Why are you all groaning?” Loui asks, alarmed by their reactions.  This is not what he wants to hear.

“We don’t really wanna go out, Lou,” Liam explains.

When Louis raises his eyebrows, Niall steps in. “We’ve just been spending a lot of money on going out lately.  Thought we’d have a proper lads night instead. Stay in and drink.”

“Fine,” Louis sighs, tossing his backpack on the ground. “Just know, I’m getting smashed tonight.”

“No one’s stopping ya,” Niall laughs.

Louis takes a seat in the empty chair next to the couch.  Harry hands Louis a beer from where’s sitting on the couch, grin on his face.  Opening it, Louis downs half of it immediately, feeling Harry’s eyes on him the entire time.

**

Several hours later, Louis has lost count of how many beers he’s drank, but he doesn’t care.  The alcohol is buzzing in his veins, and he feels good. 

Niall and Liam are playing a game of FIFA while Louis and Zayn argue over what food they should order.

“I feel like pizza would be the best option,” Louis says, scrolling through a take away menu on his phone.

He hears Zayn scoff from the couch. “But how good does orange chicken sound right now?”

“Not as good as pizza!”

“We always get pizza though,” Zayn complains, eyebrows furrowed.

“Harry!” Louis calls. Harry hums in response, looking up from his phone. “Pizza or Chinese?”

“Pizza,” Harry answers after a moment.

“No,” Zayn groans. “You were supposed to pick Chinese, Harry.”

“Sorry,” Harry shrugs. “Zayn, why don’t you just order Chinese for yourself and Louis and I can get pizza?”

“Not a bad idea, Styles,” Louis compliments. “Niall, Liam? What do you guys want?”

They both want Chinese, so they end up ordering both, a large pizza for Harry and Louis to share and enough orange chicken and rice to feed twenty people.

“Finally!” Niall yells as he makes his way from the door, balancing the pizza box and containers of Chinese food in his hands.  He sets the down on the coffee table in the middle of everyone. 

“Louis,” Harry calls from the couch. “Come here, it’s easier if we sit next to each other if we’re sharing this pizza.”

Louis agrees easily considering he’s fairly drunk.  He only stumbles a bit on the way to the couch.  He’s consumed several more beers in the time it took for their food to be delivered.

There really isn’t any room for him on the couch but he squeezes his way in between Harry and Liam.

“Louis, do you have to sit here? I can barely eat because I’m so squished,” Liam complains, making a show of how hard it is for him to move his arm to pick up his fork.

“Sorry Liam, I don’t make the rules,” Louis says around a huge bite of pizza.  He hadn’t really realized how hungry he was until now.

“It’s fine,” Harry cuts in. “We’ll just do what we always do.”

Before Louis can ask what that even means, he’s being picked up by Harry who places Louis on his lap.  As far as Louis can remember, this is not “what they always do.” He’s sat on Harry’s lap exactly _one_ time before, and he did not enjoy it.

“What the fuck?” Louis hisses at Harry, but Harry only responds by wrapping his arms tightly around Louis’ waist.

He sees Niall laughing out of the corner of his eye.  Nothing’s funny. 

By the time they finish their food, it’s nearing two in the morning.

“Well lads, I think it’s time to call it night,” Zayn says through a yawn, getting up from his seat.

Niall and Liam make noises of agreement, following Zayn.

“Goodnight, lads!” Niall calls throwing a wink towards Harry and Louis.

Oh yeah, Louis is still sitting on Harry’s lap.

They hear the sound of the front door closing in the distance and Louis feels Harry grip his thigh.  The TV is playing in the background and Louis trains his eyes on the screen although he has no idea what’s even going on.  His mind is racing, and neither one of them are making any effort to move. 

He turns to say something to Harry, despite the fact that he doesn’t know what to even say.

Before he even realizes what’s happening, their lips are pressed together. 

He has no idea who made the first move, but he knows Harry’s lips feel like heaven moving against his, warm and soft.  Harry moves his hand up Louis’ thigh, and Louis reluctantly pulls back.

“Fuck,” Louis hisses. “Harry, we can’t, we can’t do this. Your girlfriend!”

“Lou,” Harry whispers against Louis’ lips.  It’s only a second before Harry connects their lips again.

Louis wraps his arms around Harry’s shoulders, slipping is tongue into Harry’s mouth. Harry groans as Louis runs his tongue along the roof of his mouth.

“Fuck,” Harry mutters, pulling away. “Fuck, okay. We should, um, we should stop?” It comes out as more of a question than anything and while Louis agrees with Harry, he really doesn’t want to stop. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Louis agrees, pressing a few kisses into the milky white skin of Harry’s neck.  It’s is so soft, Louis thinks he could spend hours running his lips over it, maybe even days.  It’s probably due to the alcohol, but this is the first time he’s admitted to himself that he wants Harry like this.  If he were sober, he would be freaking the fuck out, but he’s drunk and he wants Harry’s lips back on his, like, now.

“Okay,” Harry murmurs.  He presses one last chaste kiss onto Louis’ lips before lifting him off his lap. “We should probably head to bed, yeah?”

Louis wants to protest, but even in his drunk state he knows it’s best to just stop now. Silently he nods, pushing himself off the couch and walks towards the stairs.  He can feel Harry’s presence behind him.

It’s only after making it up three steps that he feels Harry wrap his arms around his waist from behind, hand slipping up Louis’ shirt.  Harry splays his hand across Louis’ stomach, sucking hot kisses into his neck. The kisses make their way up to Louis’ ear. “Come to bed with me,” Harry murmurs into his ear, soft lips tickling the shell.

Louis hesitates for a moment.  It’s a terrible idea.  He’s brought back out of his hesitant thoughts, when he feels Harry press his hard cock against Louis. “Alright,” Louis says, barely audible. The hand on his stomach tightens for a moment before Harry moves it to the small of Louis’ back, guiding him up the stairs and into his room. 

Harry lays down on the bed first, Louis following him.  As soon as their both laying down, Louis kisses Harry immediately, tongue and all.  It’s a hot kiss, passionate and promising.  Louis feels a hand snake down his torso, cupping his cock through his jeans.  He hisses before breaking the kiss. “Harry, we can’t, fuck, we can only kiss, okay? You’re girlfriend, we can, just kissing,” Louis stutters.

Removing his hand, Harry smiles a bit at Louis. “Fuck, Louis.  Yeah, but I mean this is bad enough already, right? What’s a little more at this point?”

“How would your girlfriend feel about this?”

“She’d be pretty pissed,” Harry admits. “But c’mon Louis, just let me get you off.”

It’s a tough situation to be in.  Louis would never want to come between someone’s relationship, but Harry’s big hand on his cock would feel so fucking good right now.

Connecting their lips again, Louis uses the kiss as an agreement.  Harry’s hands work over the buttons on his jeans, pealing them off Louis’ legs, only breaking the kiss for a moment.

It’s not a minute later that Harry is wrapping his large hand around Louis’ cock, slowly stroking. “You’re so fucking beautiful, Louis.”

Louis can’t do anything but moan.  Just as he thought, Harry’s hand feels amazing.  He leans down to suck more kisses into Louis’ neck as his hand speeds up.  It’s only a few minutes later that Louis is coming all of Harry’s hand, letting out a low moan.

“Fuck,” Louis says, coming down from his orgasm. There’s a small smile on Harry’s lips as he grabs a tissue from his bedside table and wipes them off.  He throws the tissue off to the side somewhere and kisses Louis again. “Harry, I should go back to my room.”

“No,” Harry protests. “Please, stay.”

Shaking his head, Louis presses a kiss to Harry’s lips. “No, I should really go.”

“You’re probably right,” Harry agrees, reluctantly. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but like, I don’t think anyone should find out about this.”

“No, I completely agree.  Stays between us.”

Louis honestly doesn’t know what would happen if the other boys found out what just went on, but he’d rather not find out.

“It’s not going to be awkward between us, right?”

“No, we’ll be fine,” Louis assures him. “You’ll still annoy the shit out of me.”

Harry laughs at that, and Louis feels a little bad, he can tell Harry is rock hard in his skin tight jeans but Louis is most definitely not going to get him off now.

They kiss one more time before Louis gets up, Harry helping him gather his clothes.

Louis is just about to leave when Harry calls his name. Turning around, Louis raises his eyebrows in question.

“Can we cuddle sometime?”

Laughing, Louis agrees knowing full well that there’s a good chance neither of them will remember that tomorrow.

“Goodnight,” Louis calls before shutting his door and face planting on his bed.

He has no idea what just happened or how it happened but he knows that was probably one of the dumbest things he could do.  He just hooked up with his flatmate.  Who’s fucking annoying.  And has a _girlfriend_ across the ocean.  What the fuck was he thinking?

Pulling himself out of bed, Louis goes to the bathroom to down a glass of water, hoping that it will at least take care of a possible hangover so he had one less thing to worry about tomorrow.

They both agreed to keep this a secret but honestly there’s no way in hell it’s going to stay a secret.  Niall is going to find out somehow but probably not before Zayn figures it out.

He can’t help but wonder what’s going to happen with Harry’s relationship.  It was already pretty rocky before this happened.  Whether Harry and his girlfriend break up or not, this can’t happen again. 

After what feels like forever, Louis finally drifts off to sleep for the night.

**

When Louis makes up in the morning, the first thought that comes to mind is _holy fuck I hooked up with Harry last night._

How drunk had he been to let that happen?

He’s wondering if Harry is thinking similarly right now.  There’s not much time to think about it though because he has work in just over an hour.

Getting ready quickly, Louis successfully leaves the house without running into Harry.  He knows he’ll have to face him eventually, and he knows they agreed that it wouldn’t be awkward but come on.  More often than not it’s awkward after a hook up. 

Work passes rather slowly due to the anxious feeling Louis has in the bottom of his stomach all morning.  He gets out of work at 5 and there’s a text from Niall.

**Hope you weren’t too hung over today bc we’re going out tonight!! Just found out about a siiiick club from one of my mates at work so I thought we’d try it out!**

_Sounds good_ , Louis types back, mind already racing.

**Try to talk Harry into going out.  I talked to him earlier and he said it’s not a good idea for him to go out.**

Okay, weird.

_What does that mean? lol,_ Louis asks hoping he’s not sounding too oddly curious.

**Usually means he’s worried he’ll like cheat on his girlfriend or something which is dumb bc I know Harry would never do that. Loyal boyfriend he is!**

Well, fuck.

_Gotcha,_ is all Louis types back, suddenly feeling extremely nauseous and it has nothing to do with the amount of alcohol he consumed last night.

Well this just keeps getting better.

Anxiously, Louis walks home, praying to God Harry isn’t home.

 He just can’t face him yet.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for all the nice comments so far! hope you guys are enjoying it! feedback is always appreciated :)


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tuesday again already?!  
> Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!

As soon as Louis opens the door, he knows today isn’t his lucky day.

The harsh, loud sound of the blender is coming from the kitchen, Harry probably making one of his fruit smoothies he’s always drinking.

Shutting the door, Louis takes a deep breath.  He drops his things on the ground and throws his coat in the direction of the coat rack. 

He tries to tell himself everything’s fine. They had agreed it wouldn’t be awkward, so he just won’t act awkward.  And the awkward thing to do would probably be to avoid Harry and head straight to his room.  So Louis, the brave man that he is, heads straight to the kitchen.

Just as he thought, Harry is making some sort of fruity concoction in the blender and doesn’t even notice Louis has walked into the room due to the loud noise.

Taking a seat at the island, Louis impatiently taps a rhythm with his fingers on the counter trying to figure out what to say.  He knows he’s being stupid, completely overthinking this whole thing but he really fucking hates awkward situations.

Eventually, Harry looks up as he turns off the blender and grins at Louis.

“Hey Lou,” Harry greets, casually.

“Hey,” Louis says back trying as hard as possible to be nonchalant. “Smoothie?”

Harry nods, pouring the pinkish contents into a glass. “I think there’s a little extra, want some?”

Louis declines, not feeling very hungry. “So, Niall wanted me to talk to you about going out tonight.”

Chuckling, Harry takes a sip of his smoothie. “Of course he does.”  He takes another drink before speaking again. “It’s not that I don’t want to go out, it’s just that it’s not a good idea.”

“Why? You’ll have fun,” Louis pushes.

“I don’t doubt that,” Harry smirks. “I just, I don’t, I don’t think I can, like, trust myself around you when I’m drunk.”

Okay, wow.  Louis feels a shock go up his spine.  He certainly wasn’t excepting this.

“Harry,” Louis begins, uncertain of where to go from here.  “The other boys will be there, I mean, nothing’s going to happen. Especially in front of them.”

He’s really unsure if anything should ever happen between them ever again.  Would he hook up with Harry again? Well, yes.  But he just feels wrong about him being in a relationship, and Harry has told him multiple times how much he loves her.

“I know,” Harry sighs. “I just, I don’t know.”

“So you’re just not going to go out for the rest of your time here, as long as I’m there?”

“Well,” Harry’s lips quirk up in a small smile. “When you put it that way it seems kind of ridiculous.”

“That’s because it is ridiculous.  We live together, you can’t very well avoid me now can you?” Louis points out.

“I’m not trying to you avoid you, Lou.”

They share a smile between each other before Louis heads upstairs to shower. 

He feels relieved that it’s not awkward between them but there’s definitely some weird tension there.  For one thing, Harry just admitted that he can’t trust himself around Louis, and as much as Louis knows it shouldn’t happen again, he’s pretty certain he can no longer trust himself around Harry either.

Last night was all it took for Louis to realize what he wouldn’t let himself admit before.  He wants Harry, and he wants him bad.

**

After Louis had assured Harry nothing would happen between them, Harry had decided that he would go out.  Although, Louis really wasn’t sure who he was trying to convince more, himself or Harry.

Niall, Zayn, and Liam all come over for pre-drinks but by the time they arrive Louis is already three beers deep, opting to start early, hoping to ease his mind.

“Welcome to my humble abode,” Louis greets as he opens the door.

He’s met with an eye roll from Zayn.  Niall heads straight to fridge to fetch a beer for himself and Liam, while Zayn pulls out a bottle of vodka.

“I’m getting smashed tonight,” Zayn informs Louis. “Get some shot glasses.”

Louis is never one to refuse shots so he quickly walks to the kitchen to search his cupboards for shot glasses.

“If you looking for shot glasses, they’re over there,” Harry informs Louis, seeming to appear out of nowhere.

“Exactly what I was looking for,” Louis sends Harry a grateful smile. “Want a shot? Zayn brought vodka.”

Louis watches Harry’s face as he hesitates before agreeing, and brings the shot glasses into the living room so Zayn can poor one for each of them.

“Alright, everyone is taking one,” Zayn announces.

Niall fist pumps while Liam sends a glare in Zayn’s direction.

Everyone picks up a shot glass, apart from Liam, making Zayn literally force one into his hand.

“Good Liam,” Zayn jokes, picking one up for himself.

“Okay, toooooo,” Niall draws out the word, holding up his glass as he tries to think of something to toast to.

“To Louis!” Harry cuts in, already four beers in and well on his way to drunk, the lightweight that he is.

Niall throws his head back as he lets out a loud, cackling laugh.

“Why to me?” Louis asks incredulously, letting out a laugh as well.

Harry just shrugs, “because Louis is my favorite!”

“Well isn’t that precious!” Niall yells out, while Louis feels the blush creeping up his neck into his cheeks. “To Louis, then!”

They all raise their shot glasses, clinking them together before throwing them back, letting the vodka burn their throats on the way down.

After finishing their beers and taking several more shots, they decide it’s time to catch the tube and get over to Shoreditch for the night.

By the time the reach the club, it’s packed with people, the music vibrating throughout their bodies.

“Drinks?” Louis yells and everyone nods in response.

 They all attempt to follow Louis to the bar, squeezing through groups of people and couples dancing, and by the time the all make it there, Louis has already ordered a round of shots.

As soon as Louis’ downs his, he feels a hand on is back.  Turning around, he’s unsurprised to see that the hand belongs to Harry.

“Can I help you?”

Harry smiles and moves his hand from Louis’ back to his waist and leans down to whisper in his ear. “Dance with me.”

Louis isn’t drunk enough to forget that this is a bad idea, but he is drunk enough that he’ll still say yes.  He moves his eyes from Harry’s face to where Niall, Liam, and Zayn are standing. “Are you sure we should?” Louis yells over the music.

Rolling his eyes, Harry nods his head. “It’s just dancing, Lou. Come on.”

Louis agrees, allowing Harry to take his hand and lead him into the crowd of people without sparing another look at the rest of his friends.  They squeeze their way to the middle of the crowd. 

Once they find a spot, Harry moves his hands to Louis’ hips and pulls his back to his chest. 

“Is this okay?” Harry says into Louis’ ear, and all Louis can do is wordlessly nod as he lines his ass up with Harry’s crotch and begins to move to the beat as the music pounds through his body.

It only takes a few songs for Harry to really get into it, his big hands beginning to roam around Louis’ body and up and under his shirt. Louis responds by moving his body even more sinfully than before.

Louis holds his breath as he feels Harry’s hand move higher and higher up his chest until his thumb is brushing over Louis’ nipple.  He can’t help but throw his head back onto Harry’s shoulder, immediately feeling Harry’s mouth attach to his neck, pressing warm, wet, open mouthed kisses up the column of his throat.

“Fuck,” Louis breathes

“You’re so fucking hot, Louis,” Harry sayings into Louis’ neck, attaching his mouth to the side of it and sucking, his thumbs continuing the work over Louis’ nipples.

This is exactly what Louis was afraid of but it feels way too good to stop. 

Harry removes his lips from Louis’s neck and places his hands on Louis’ hips, turning him so that they’re face to face.  Louis laces his hands behind Harry’s neck, and Harry’s hands immediately go to Louis ass, kneading it.

“Fuck it,” Louis murmurs, sucking Harry’s bottom lip into his mouth.

They kiss like that, in the middle of a sea of people, as song after song go by, moving against each other.

After what could have been years for all Louis knows, he reluctantly pulls away, and Harry chases his lips, stealing one more kiss.

“Should probably find the others, yeah?” Louis says into Harry’s ear.

Harry nods in agreement, putting his hand on Louis’ back again, leading them out of the crowd.

When they make it to a less crowded area, Louis pulls his phone out of his pocket and there’s a text from Niall saying they’ve been looking for him and Harry but to meet them by the entrance when they’re ready to go.  He had no idea so much time had passed.

“Finally,” Zayn grumbles as Harry and Louis approach them. “We’ve only been waiting forever.”

“Oh, shut it, you grumpy old man,” Louis jokes, really not caring that they had been waiting for so long.

“Damn, Lou, find someone to dance with?” Zayn asks, eyes wide.

Louis stutters, unsure of what exactly Zayn means by that.  Did he see him and Harry dancing?

“Your neck,” Zayn clarifies. “There’s a massive love bite.”

Niall cranes his neck to get a look, and Louis watches as his eyes widen as well. “Holy shit! You must’ve found a vicious one!”

Luckily, before Louis can answer, they exit the club.  When Zayn, Liam, and Niall all begin to walk ahead, Louis turns to Harry. “I’m gonna fucking kill you.”

Harry only laughs, putting his hand on Louis’ neck to get a good look. “Whoops.”

“Yeah, whoops,” Louis pokes Harry in the side.

After walking through Shoreditch for several minutes, they eventually all pile into a cab.  The ride home is quiet, everyone drained from a night of drinking and dancing. 

Harry and Louis get dropped off first and they make their way inside silently.  Louis heads straight to the kitchen to drink at least five glasses of water not wanting to deal with a hangover tomorrow, knowing he’ll already have enough to deal with, with the giant love bite on his neck. Which reminds him, he hasn’t actually seen the love bite yet.  He should probably check that out.

Pouring a glass of water, Louis takes a generous drink before walking to the bathroom and flipping on the light.  He moves his neck to the side, exposing the bite so he can see it better, and okay wow.  He didn’t know Harry was a fucking vampire.  That thing is massive, purple, and unforgiving. 

He’s definitely going to yell at Harry in the morning.

Speaking of the devil, Harry appears in the doorway of the bathroom looking all too smug.

“Don’t look so smug, I’m going to yell at you tomorrow,” Louis warns.

“And why tomorrow instead of now?” Harry asks, stepping in the bathroom.  He reaches out and runs his thumb over the love bite, sending shivers down Louis’ spine.

“Because I’m not mad right now,” Louis murmurs. “You bet your perky arse I’ll be mad tomorrow though!”

“I look forward to it,” Harry chuckles.

“I’m sure. Well, goodnight Harry.  Next time warn a guy that you’re a vampire before you bite them.”

“Goodnight, Lou,” Harry replies, leaning down to plant a kiss on Louis’ cheek before disappearing upstairs.

Louis is left alone, the harsh light of the bathroom light giving him a slight headache.  He looks at the love bite one more time before shaking his head and turning off the light.

How did his life get so complicated within a matter of 24 hours?

Actually, it probably got complicated the minute Harry walked into Starbucks on his first day in London.

**

The next morning Louis is woken up by the vibration of his phone in hand.  He had passed out the night before, before he could even plug his phone in.

Groaning, Louis opens one eye and looks at his phone. It’s Niall.

**Lunch on me…see you at 12**

Well, fuck.  Louis knows what that means.  When Niall offers to buy you lunch, in his language it means we need to talk.

Checking the time, Louis is surprised to see that it’s 11, meaning he only has an hour before he needs to meet Niall at pub down the street.

He responds with a _k_ and hops out of bed and straight into the shower.  If there’s one thing he’s happy about, it’s the fact that he drank enough water before passing out to not be hung over.

Getting ready in just enough time, Louis hurries downstairs where Harry’s laying on the couch.

“Gotta go meet Niall, I think I’m in trouble,” Louis informs Harry, slipping on his shoes that are haphazardly lying by the front door. “You, I will deal with later.”

Louis most certainly did not forget about the massive love bite that’s practically branded on his neck.

Harry just flips him off from the couch.

When Louis gets to the pub Niall is already waiting for him.

“Morning sunshine,” Louis says, hoping to lighten the mood he can already tell is a bit tense.

“Save it,” Niall says. Okay, weird.

“Is there a problem then?” Louis asks, sitting down.

“I know Harry gave you that love bite,” Niall states instantly.

Well, fuck.  There’s no use in lying now because when Niall is on to something there’s no way of getting around it.

“Um,” Louis stutters, eyes looking anywhere but at Niall.

“How Zayn and Liam haven’t figured that out is beyond me.  I mean, you two disappeared for the entire night and then you return with that thing on your neck.  Pretty obvious.”

“Well, I mean,” Louis starts. “I didn’t, like, plan for him to give me a love bite. He’s the one who did it! Why aren’t you talking to him?”

“Because I want to talk to you,” Niall answers, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table. “Listen, I don’t want to alarm you, but you have feelings for Harry.”

“And what makes you say that?” Louis asks, a bit annoyed by the fact that Niall seems to think he can tell Louis who he does and doesn’t have feelings for.

“Well, I don’t know, the fact that you do?”

“I haven’t given it much thought.”

It’s true.  Louis really hasn’t let himself think about it much.  Mostly because he’s afraid of what kind of answers he might find.

“Okay, well, you have feelings for him, and I don’t know if you’ve noticed but Harry wears his heart on his sleeve.  He has feelings for you too.”

“He has a girlfriend,” Louis points out. 

“I know,” Niall sighs. “He needs to figure his shit out.”

“So if you don’t mind me asking, what’s the point of this talk?”

Niall run his fingers through his hair. “You two are going to turn my hair gray, I swear. I just wanted you to know that I’m not stupid.  I know there’s something going on.  But also, Harry’s dumb.  At least when it comes to his girlfriend.  I know he’s unhappy with their relationship at the moment but he does love her, and I don’t want you to get hurt.”  Niall looks Louis in the eye. “Just be careful.  He has a lot of shit to figure out and I just don’t want to see either of you end up with a broken heart, whatever happens.”

“Right,” Louis murmurs, faintly. 

This whole talk is a bit of a shock.  He didn’t think anyone knew there was anything at all between him and Harry, and he didn’t even think that he had feelings for Harry, other than sexual attraction. But, now Niall’s got him thinking, and he’s not sure if he likes it.

Looks like they both have a lot to figure out.

They order their food, and Niall keeps it light for the rest of lunch, steering clear of topics involving him or Harry. And, as promised, Niall pays.

When they get up to leave, he pulls Louis into a hug, and reminds him he’s just looking out for him.

Louis thanks him and squeezes him a little tighter, despite the fact that he didn’t exactly enjoy the discussion between him and Niall, it’s one of those moments where he feels truly grateful to have friends who do really care about him.

He makes the short walk home, Niall going in the opposite direction, and when he walks in the door, Harry is sitting on the couch right where he was when Louis left.

“You,” Louis shouts as dramatic as possible as soon as he’s inside. “I’m going to murder you!”

“No you’re not,” Harry says, barely looking away from the TV.

“Yes I am.  Do you know how many people stared at me as I was walking down the street, all because of this!” Louis points at his neck.  Truthfully, he hadn’t really noticed if people were staring or not, but he just wants Harry to feel bad.

“I’ll give you another one if you don’t shut up,” Harry warns.

“No you fucking won’t!”

“Yes I fucking will!”

“By the way, Niall knows you gave me this,” Louis informs Harry. “So good job.  Really great!”

Harry just shrugs and smiles. “Whoops.”

Louis really is going to kill Harry before Harry is the death of him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always, feedback please!  
> I hope you guys are enjoying what's finally going on between Harry and Louis!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Technically posting this on Wednesday since it's just past midnight but I had a super long day and just got home. Anyway, here's chapter 10!

“Is this too touristy for you?” Harry asks as they cross the street, bustling with cars and people like any other Saturday.

“No, I actually do enjoy a market every once in a while,” Louis shrugs. “I mean, it’s food, how can I not enjoy that?”

They making the relatively short walk from Bermondsey to Borough Market for some lunch.  Louis had wanted to take the tube, just one stop over to London Bridge but Harry and Zayn had simply rolled their eyes before walking right passed the tube station.

“What’s good here?” Harry asks, squeezing his way through a group of people standing in the middle of the street.

“Literally everything,” Zayn pipes up.  “I honestly don’t think I’ve ever had anything bad here.  The worst part is just deciding what to get because there’s so many options.”

They weave through the market, examining all the little stands selling things such as meats, cheeses, and overly priced fruit.

“These apples look gorgeous,” Harry murmurs as they pass by an organic fruit stand. Louis can only snort in response.  He can honestly say that’s the first time he’s ever heard someone call fruit gorgeous, and leave it to Harry to be the one to say it.

“Can we get food now?” Zayn whines. “I’m so fucking hungry.”

Louis nods in agreement while Harry pouts that he’s being pulled away from the “gorgeous” organic fruit. 

They move to the back of the market to look at the other food options, the three of them deciding on a little stand that sells meat pies and mash because Harry said he hadn’t tried one yet.

Out of luck, they’re able to find an empty table despite the crowd and they eat in a comfortable silence, scarfing down their pies and mash like they haven’t eaten in a week.

“This is so good,” Harry says around a mouth full of pie. “I can’t believe I didn’t try this earlier.”

“There’s still much to learn, young Harry,” Louis quips, taking a drink of his beer. “Much to see, much to do.”

“So inspiring,” Zayn snorts.  “I feel bad for you, Harry.  Having to live with this one.”

“Excuse me, Zayn! I was the best flat mate you ever had. Admit it!”

“Glad I got out when I could,” Zayn says to Harry, ignoring Louis’ orders.

Harry looks up from his food, a slight smirk on his face as his eyes move from Zayn to Louis.

“It’s not so bad,” Harry murmurs, eyes still on Louis.

Zayn raises his eyebrows at Harry. “Don’t you hate tripping over his shoes though? He always has to leave them in the middle of the floor.”

“Oh my god,” Harry groans. “I know! It drives me crazy.”

“Hey! I’m right here you know!” Louis furrows his eyebrows.

Harry takes one more bite of his food before throwing his napkin and utensils into it, deeming that he can’t take another bite. “Thanks for showing me this place,” Harry smiles graciously. “I have to go meet up with a few people for a project. See you later, Zayn, and I’ll see you at home, Lou.”

It’s not twenty seconds after Harry is gone that Zayn turns to Louis expectantly.

“What?” Louis whines.

“What’s up with you and Harry?”

Louis feels his heart rate pick up at Zayn’s words, not wanting to have another conversation similar to the one he had with Niall just days before.

“We’re flatmates,” Louis deadpans. “I’m not sure I understand the question.”

Zayn rolls his eyes. “You’re, like, not so mean to him like you used to be.  You hate Harry, or at least that’s what you said.  Now you just tease him in, like, a loving way or something.  I dunno, it’s weird.”

“Please,” Louis scoffs. “I’m not quite sure what you want me to say here.  Before you were all like _Louis be nice to Harry_ and now that I’m apparently nicer to him you act like it’s weird.”

“Okay, you’re right,” Zayn says as Louis watches his expression change. “I’m sorry. I’m just surprised to see you two getting on so well now.  Before all you guys did was bicker.”

“You’re making us sound like an old married couple,” Louis points out, face twisting in disgust.

Smirking, Zayn runs a hand through his hair. “Hey, remember when he first moved in? I told you he’s your type.  Which he is.”

“He has a girlfriend,” Louis points out.

“I know,” Zayn sighs.  “If he didn’t though, would you be interested in him?  I mean come on, Lou.  Even I know, he’s bloody gorgeous.”

“I can’t deny that,” Louis admits, trying to buy a bit of time.  He knows Zayn probably isn’t going to let this question go.  Why are his friends so fucking nosy? “Can we talk about something else? I swear you lot only ever talk to me about Harry!”

Zayn laughs at that and changes the subject.

**

“Wanna cross Abbey Road with me tomorrow?” Harry asks several days later.

For the most part, Louis has been able to avoid touristy things for the past few weeks but he knew it couldn’t last forever.

“No,” Louis deadpans. “Love the Beatles, but no.”

“Please,” Harry whines, and even though Louis is looking down at his book he’s supposed to be reading, he knows exactly what face Harry is making right now.  The little pouty face where he juts his lip out and tries to make you feel bad for him.  Disgusting. “Niall said no too.  He said he didn’t want to see me get run over by a car. What does that even mean?”

Sighing, Louis looks up from his book. “Abbey Road is literally in the middle of a neighborhood, on a street that’s fairly busy, so honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if you get hit by a car, mate.”

Harry’s eyes widen at Louis’ words. “What?! They should have it, like, blocked off.  It’s an iconic thing!”

“Ugh, Americans,” Louis mutters. “You all are always so shocked by this.  They can’t just block off the middle of the street forever.  It’s a street, Harry. People need to drive on it.”

“Well,” Harry starts, drawing the word out. “Will you at least come with and take a picture of me crossing it? You don’t even have to cross it.  You can stand in the distance and take it.”

“You do realize that now that you’ve told me I can stand in the distance, I’ll literally stand like really far away, making you look like a little speck of dust crossing the street and then you won’t even be able to post it on your Instagram for all your one million followers to see?”

Harry’s eyes light up at Louis’ words. “Does that mean you’ll go?”

“Out of all the things I just said, that’s all you got from it?” Louis laughs.

“You’re the best,” Harry smiles, moving across the kitchen to sit down at the table next to Louis. “Thanks, Lou.”

“You say that now,” Louis sighs. “But when you look at the picture I take, you won’t be saying that.  Even though I most definitely am the best.”

Harry just smiles and Louis wants to poke his dimples.  So he does.

**

“Can you move a little closer?” Harry yells from where he’s waiting to cross Abbey Road.  A few other tourists turn around and look at him, startled expressions on their face.  Harry is so embarrassing.

Louis just moves a few steps further away instead of closer.  He taps his foot impatiently as Harry allows a few people to go before him.  This was supposed to be a quick little trip but Harry decided to be Mr. Nice Guy and allow every tourist in London to cross the street before him.

Finally, after what feels like an hour, Harry finally steps foot on the cross walk and Louis’ lifts Harry’s phone to snap the pictures.  He doesn’t want to be too mean, so he doesn’t make them blurry or anything.  But he really is standing pretty far away so the pictures do turn out pretty low quality.  Harry can’t say Louis didn’t warn him though.

“Everything you hoped and dreamed it would be?” Louis asks, when Harry makes his way over to Louis. 

“It was pretty cool,” Harry admits.

Louis hands Harry the phone and watches as Harry immediately opens his camera roll.  It only takes a few seconds before his eyebrows are shooting up. “What kind of picture is this?” Harry asks incredulously. “Louis, this is the worst picture I’ve ever seen!”

“Oh my god,” Louis sighs. “Don’t even act surprised! I told you I was going to do this.”

Locking his phone, Harry slips it into his back pocket. “You’re ridiculous.  Just for this, I’m dragging you to a few of the Beatles souvenir shops up the road.”

Louis opens his mouth to argue but Harry’s pointed look makes Louis realize he’s not getting out of this.

“I would love to go to the Beatles souvenir shops!” Louis says sarcastically.

“Good,” Harry answers, rolling his eyes. “I wanna get something for my girlfriend.”

Louis falters a bit at Harry’s words.  It’s not like he forgot Harry has a girlfriend but it just feels weird when Harry brings her up.  It’s almost like he’s completely ignoring everything that’s happened between them recently.  Not that they’ve really discussed it.  To be honest, Louis really doesn’t know where Harry’s head is with this whole situation.  He doesn’t know where his own on head is on this situation either.

Basically, it’s a huge mess.

“Coming, Lou?” Harry asks when Louis falls behind.

Picking up his pace, Louis joins Harry, walking side by side.

“Thanks for coming,” Harry smiles, looking down at Louis. “Even if your photography skills are shit.”

“My photography skills are not shit.  The subject of the photo was just shit,” Louis corrects, a slight smirk on his face, knocking his shoulder against Harry’s.

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that,” Harry murmurs, fighting a smile.

They make the rest of the way to the shop in a comfortable silence, their elbows occasionally knocking together.

Harry ends up buying a few things for himself and something for his girlfriend.  Louis doesn’t know what Harry buys though because he doesn’t care.  Or that’s what he tells himself at least.

**

 “Fuck, I’m tired,” Harry groans, plopping down on the couch next to Louis. 

It’s been several days since they went to Abbey Road, and Harry has finally decided to forgive Louis for his horrible picture quality.

“Poor baby,” Louis mocks, glancing at Harry.

“Shouldn’t you be at work?” Harry asks after a moment.

Louis waits a moment before tearing his eyes from the TV to look at Harry again. “Got the day off, actually.”

“Oh, exciting.  How are you gonna spend your day off?”

“Honestly, I probably won’t move off this couch this entire day.

Harry hums in response, turning back to the TV.

“Louis,” Harry murmurs several minutes later.

“What?”

“Can we cuddle?”

Louis freezes.  He knows this is a bad idea.

Terrible idea even.

“Uh, yeah. Okay.”

“C’mere,” Harry says softly.

Louis scoots over and Harry puts his arm around Louis, pulling him in close.

“Alright?”

“Mhm,” Harry hums. “Feels good.  You’re really cuddly, Lou.”

Laughing, Louis looks about at Harry. “Not sure if that’s a compliment but thanks.”

They turn back to the TV, some documentary about something with animals is on but Louis can’t quite make out what they’re saying.  He’s too distracted by Harry’s warm body pressed up against his.  Harry’s thumb rubbing over Louis’ elbow.  It feels nice.  They shouldn’t be doing this but too late now.

“Can we watch something else?” Harry chuckles.

Louis nods, reaching for the remote. “Or not watch anything at all,” Harry adds.

“What?” Louis asks, pointing the remote at the TV.  He’s about to press the guide button to search what’s on but before he can get that far Harry is grabbing the remote out of his hand and tossing it to the side.

It’s not a moment later that Harry is sucking Louis’ bottom lip into his mouth.  Inhaling sharply, Louis lets himself be kissed, responding to Harry’s lips not moment later.

“Fuck,” Harry murmurs, slipping his tongue into Louis’ mouth, pulling him closer.

This continues for what feels like the better half of an hour.  Louis keeps telling himself to stop, but it feels too good.  Harry’s red lips are so warm and soft. 

Finally, after a whole lot of willpower, Louis pulls away.

“Are you okay? Was that-was that okay?” Harry asks immediately.

Louis takes a deep breath, trying to gather his thoughts.

“Harry,” he starts. “We can’t keep doing this without even talking about it.  Especially when you have a girlfriend.”

“Fuck, right. Yeah my girlfriend,” Harry trails off sheepishly.

As if right on cue, Harry’s phone goes off, ringtone blaring throughout the tense atmosphere.

“Fuck,” Harry says again. “I gotta take this.”

Louis watches Harry grabs his phone and heads towards the kitchen.

One way or another, they’re both screwed.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! Can't believe were already 10 chapters in!  
> Thanks for all the great comments so far! See you next week!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!  
> I just want to say sorry about the delay with this update. It's been a busy week but here it is, finally!  
> Thanks for all the kind messages I received with people telling me they couldn't wait to read the next chapter. I'm so glad people are enjoying it!

Minutes feel like hours as Louis sits on the couch, straining to hear what Harry is saying in the kitchen. 

He’s speaking too quietly for Louis to understand, only able to pick up random words here and there.  His heart is beating fast in his chest, mind racing. 

The two of them really need to figure this out but of course Harry’s phone rings at the most inconvenient time, and it’s mostly likely his girlfriend on the other end too. Speak of the devil.

Finally, after what feels like at least a decade, Harry emerges from the kitchen, bottom lip between his teeth.

“Sorry,” Harry murmurs as sits down next to Louis.

“Harry, I’m serious.  We need to talk about this.  We can’t just keep doing this while you have a girlfriend back home,” Louis starts.

He had plenty of time to think about what to say while Harry was on the phone but he couldn’t get his mind to focus correctly.

Harry nods his head in agreement, looking down at his hands. 

This was the first time they’ve ever done anything sober and Louis feels like he could use a few drinks before going on with this talk.

“I get that being away from your girlfriend is hard,” Louis continues. “But, I’m not here for you to use to get off for these five months.”

Immediately, Harry’s head shoots up, looking at Louis with wide eyes. “Is that-fuck,” Harry breathes, running a hand through his hair. “Fuck. Louis no.  It’s not like that.  I’m not using you.  I would never-shit. I’m an idiot.

Louis keeps his eyes on Harry without saying anything, watching as Harry stumbles over his words.  It wasn’t until tonight that it dawned on Louis that maybe Harry really was just using him.  He could only guess it’d be difficult to leave the sex behind with your girlfriend while going abroad for practically half a year.

Harry reaches out and puts a large, warm hand on Louis’ thigh.  He waits as Harry tries to gather his thoughts, taking a deep breath. “Louis, I’m not that type of person. I would never,” Harry says seriously.

“Okay,” Louis responds after several moments. “You’re not using me but what is this? Seriously.”

“I really like you,” Harry murmurs, eyes boring into Louis’, and it’s a little overwhelming. “I thought that much was obvious.”

Immediately, Louis thinks back to his talk with Niall at the pub, how Niall had said they both had feelings for each other.  He thinks back to the things Harry has said to him. That he’s aesthetically pleasing, which Louis still doesn’t fucking understand what that means.  That time they sat on the Southbank and Harry had said that sometimes he didn’t know what was more beautiful, London, or Louis.

Harry does talk some shit, but maybe Niall was right.

Fuck, of course Niall was right.

“But you _love_ your girlfriend, Harry,” Louis points out.  “You can’t fucking have the best of both worlds! That’s not fair to me and it sure is fuck isn’t fair to your girlfriend!”

Louis watches Harry’s face crumble as he speaks.  It’s silent between them now and Harry has taken his hand from Louis’ thigh, covering his face with his hands, breathing in deeply.

The silence stretches on and when Harry makes no move to look at Louis or say anything, Louis’ had enough.  His skin itches with how angry and uncomfortable he feels.  Confused too.

Abruptly standing up from the couch, he walks directly over to the door and slips on his shoes.

“I’m going to Zayn’s.  Let me know when you’ve figured your shit out.” And with that Louis is gone, not sparing a second glance at Harry.  And, just because he can, he makes sure to slam the door extra hard on the way out.

Walking towards the tube, Louis pulls out his phone and dials Zayn’s number.  He waits as it rings, praying to God Zayn answers.  If there’s anyone he needs to talk to right now, it’s Zayn.

“What?” Zayn finally answers.

“Please tell me you’re home,” Louis whines, fishing around in his pocket, hoping his Oyster Card is in there somewhere. 

“Yeah, why?”

“Thank fuck,” Louis mutters. “I’m coming over right now.  I’m walking to the tube station.  Shit just hit the fan over here in Bermondsey, mate.”

“What-“

“I’ll just explain when I get there,” Louis cuts him off.

They hang up and Louis finds his Oyster Card so at least he has that going for him.  His knee jiggles up and down the entire way to Zayn’s, feeling like the tube is going at the slowest pace possible.

Finally, he finds himself sitting on Zayn’s couch, with staring at him expectantly.

It’s not until this moment that he remembers Zayn knows literally nothing about what’s been going on.  He had only just noticed that several days before at Borough Market that Harry and Louis have been getting on better.

Zayn clears his throat several times, raising his eyebrows. 

“Are you gonna fucking tell me?” Zayn finally asks when Louis still hasn’t said anything.

Eyes darting around the room, Louis tries to think of the easiest way to do this.

“Well,” he draws out, and Zayn just rolls his eyes. “Me and Harry-“

“Wait,” Zayn cuts him off. “Can I guess first?”

It’s Louis’ turn to roll his eyes.  It’s a stupid game Zayn always likes to play because he claims he knows Louis so well that he can guess any problem or situation without Louis telling him anything about it.

“Fine,” Louis grumbles. “But you get one guess and that’s it _.  One_.”

“I only need one guess,” Zayn scoffs, adjusting in his seat to get more comfortable. “Okay so this is about Harry.”

“I already said that.”

“So you and Harry,” Zayn begins. “You have feelings for each other. Definitely.  And you’re scared and he’s all confused about his girlfriend. You kissed him, and he was all ‘Oh, Louis! I’ve been waiting for you to do that! But my girlfriend!’” He deepens his voice, impersonating Harry. “Okay, then you got all pissed Louis, and you were like ‘fuck you’re girlfriend! You’re mine, baby!” Zayn makes his voice higher for Louis’ part. 

Louis would be offended but he’s used to it.  Although, his heart did stop a bit at the mention of them kissing.

“I’m going to stop you right there,” Louis intercepts. “That was very dramatic.”

“Well, when you’re involved, it’s most likely going to be dramatic.”

“Well, either way, that’s not what happened,” Louis sighs.  He takes a moment before continuing, not quite sure he’s ready to let this secret out.  But if he doesn’t vent about what just happened, he’s going to explode. “So me and Harry, we’ve been kind of, well, hooking up. Just like, a little bit.”

Zayn’s eyes widen but he doesn’t look too overly surprised.

“It’s only happened when we’re drunk,” Louis continues. “Until tonight.  We were just, like, making out on the couch, and then I stopped and told him that we can’t keep doing this, you know, with the whole girlfriend situation.”

“Fuck,” Zayn murmurs.

Clearing his throat, Louis runs a hand through his hair, before continuing again. “Plus, I also said I’m not here for him to use to get off while he’s away from his girlfriend and he got all worked up, stumbling over his words.  More than usual, I might add, saying how he’s an idiot and he’s not using me. Which, okay, good.  But that’s when I really got pissed.”

Louis pauses and Zayn moves to the edge of his seat, mouth slightly open. “Keep going!”

“He told me he likes me,” Louis admits, but it comes out quiet, just a murmur.

“I knew it!”

“Zayn, please,” he sighs. “ _Anyway_ , I was like okay but you love your girlfriend.  And then I told him that he can’t have the best of both worlds, and that’s when I got up to leave and told him to let me know when he figures his shit out.”

It’s silent between them as Zayn processes exactly what Louis just told him.  His eyes are slightly widened as he scratches along the back of his neck.

“Wow,” he murmurs. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me! Actually, I can’t believe I hadn’t figured all this out.”

Louis just shrugs.

“You’re in love with him.”

Before Louis can answer Zayn is handing Louis is cigarette and disappears outside.  Louis is thankful for that because that meant he didn’t have to speak.  Zayn only liked to smoke in silence.

Louis didn’t think he could speak anyway.

**

The next few days blurred together.

He decided to stay at Zayn and Perrie’s and sleep on their couch, apologizing every chance he got for being an inconvenience.  Perrie just waved a hand every time, assuring Louis that it wasn’t a problem.

It was a problem though, at least for Louis.  He was a coward hiding from his own flat, hiding from his own feelings.

He checked his phone nonstop hoping for something from Harry but nothing came.  It shouldn’t have really been that much of a surprise.  Was Harry really going to pick Louis over his girlfriend? 

But all Louis could think about is how unhappy Harry had sounded telling Louis about how she controls his life from an entirely different country.  That felt like ages ago now, but Louis remembers it so clearly.

On the third day, Zayn finally kicks Louis at, telling him to grow the fuck up and stop hiding.

When Louis gets back to the flat, he pauses outside the door when he hears people talking inside.

Someone laughs.

Niall. Definitely Niall.

Louis puts his ear against the door, concentrating on making out what’s going on inside.

He just lived on his friend’s couch for three days and now he’s standing outside his own flat, eavesdropping with his ear against the door. Louis doesn’t think it could get more pathetic.

“Let’s go out tonight!” Harry says.

Interesting.

“Are you sure?” Niall asks.

Okay, why is Niall asking that? Niall always wants to go out no matter what the occasion is.

“I’m a free man, I can do whatever I want!” Harry practically yells. “Whatever makes me happy!”

Weird.

Americans are always going on about freedom and bald eagles.  And cheeseburgers.

When Louis doesn’t hear anyone speak for a while, he decides it’s time for him to go inside.  He can’t stand there all night.

Taking a few deep breaths, he turns the key and opens the door.

Surprisingly, the only person he finds is Niall.

“Well look who it is!” Niall raises his eyebrows. “Thought you might be dead.”

Louis’ eyes scan the room for any signs of Harry but he sees nothing.

“He’s showering, Louis.”

Was he being that obvious?

“So, what’s going on?” Louis asks, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

Niall shrugs. “Just here supporting my friend through a difficult time.”

“Niall-“

“You two need to talk, Louis. Really,” Niall shakes his head.

“Right,” Louis says faintly. “Well, I’m gonna go change. I’ve been wearing these clothes for three days.”

When Louis gets to his room, the first thing he does is flop down onto his bed.  Oh, how he missed it. 

Closing his eyes, Louis flips onto his stomach, loving the way his body sinks into the mattress.  Zayn’s couch wasn’t bad but nothing compares to your own bed.

“Oh,” Louis hears from the doorway.  It’s Harry.

His eyes immediately fly open, startled.

“I didn’t know you were here,” Harry says quietly, leaning against the doorway.

“Just got home.”

“You were gone for a long time.”

“Was waiting for you to tell me you figured your shit out.”

Harry huffs a laugh out. “Well, it’s figured out.”

Louis’ heart rate picks up, slightly annoyed that Harry isn’t elaborating here.

“And?” Louis finally asks.

He watches as Harry enters the room and sits down on Louis’ bed.

“Come here,” Harry murmurs, and Louis crawls over to sit next to him.  He notices how long Harry’s hair is when it’s all wet, freshly washed.  Louis can’t help but notice how beautiful he is like this.  How beautiful he is all the time.

“Before you say anything,” Louis speaks up. “Can I say something?”

Harry nods, turning to give his full attention to Louis.

“I’m sorry.  I should’ve said it a long time ago, but I’m sorry.”

“A long time ago?”

Louis nods, closing his eyes. “I’m sorry I was such a dick to you when you first got here.  Well, I’m still a dick to you now actually, and I’m sorry. You don’t deserve that. God, Harry. You’re the last person who deserves it.  You’re so, you’re, just you. You’re so you.  And I don’t know, Harry, what I’m trying to say is, you’re amazing. You’re such a good fucking person and I was acting like a right wanker when you hadn’t done anything!”

“Louis, it’s okay,” Harry smiles. “It’s fine.”

“No it’s not,” Louis insists. “Just, fuck. I’m not good at apologizes but I’m really trying here. I was just, kind of disappointed Zayn was moving out and didn’t even tell me you were moving in until, like, last minute, and I was just.  You showed up to Starbucks acting like an idiot, no offense, and I just didn’t handle the situation right. I’m sorry okay? You were just _you_ and it was overwhelming.  That doesn’t even make sense.”

“I already said it’s fine,” Harry assures him.

“Okay,” Louis breathes. “Now that that’s out of the way. Go one with whatever you were going to say.”

“I wasn’t really gonna say anything, I was just kinda going to…” Harry trails off, hand coming up to cup Louis’ jaw, attaching his lips to Louis’.

Pushing aside all questions Louis has for what’s happening, he lets himself enjoy the smooth slide of Harry’s lips against his.

After a moment, Harry pulls away.

“My girlfriend,” Harry murmurs, against Louis’ lips. “She broke up with me.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always, thanks for reading and feedback is very much appreciated!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guy! Sorry it took so long for this update! I was going to post it on Saturday but I went home for the weekend and didn't have my laptop.
> 
> A lot of people have been asking me how many chapters there will be and as of now I think about 3-4 more!
> 
> Anyway, I'll probably do the next update on either Friday or Saturday but with school wrapping up I have tons of projects and papers to do so I apologize if it takes more time.
> 
> Enjoy!!!

Louis freezes against Harry’s lips for a moment before pulling back, eyebrows raised in shock.

When Harry said he figured everything out, Louis most definitely hadn’t thought that meant his girlfriend had broken up with him.

“Are you fucking serious?” Louis demands.

Harry’s eyes study Louis’ face, mouth turned down into a frown.

“You don’t get to kiss me just because your girlfriend broke up with you!” Louis practically shouts. “Holy shit, Harry! I wasn’t here for you to get off while you’re away from your girlfriend, and I’m not fucking here to be your rebound either!”

The air feels thick between them, and Louis can’t think straight.  He’s so fucking angry, he feels like he could punch something.  Maybe punch Harry.

“Louis,” Harry starts. He looks tired. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

Louis scoffs at that, looking up at the ceiling. “You didn’t mean what like what, Harry? You said your girlfriend broke up with you.  What else could you possibly mean by saying that?”

“No,” Harry says, clearly frustrated. “The kiss. It’s not like that. You’re not my rebound, Louis.”

Staying silent, Louis just looked at Harry, waiting for him to go on.

“I should’ve been clearer.  There’s more to the story,” Harry explains. “I was going to break up with her, but she kind of, like, beat me to it.”

Louis roll his eyes, not sure what to think. “How do I know that’s the truth?”

Running a hand through his hair, Harry takes a deep breath. “I wouldn’t lie to you, okay? I really care about you.”

It’s not what Louis wants to hear, to be honest. No matter what Harry says right now, it’s not going to change the fact that Louis spilled his heart out apologizing before Harry kissed him saying his girlfriend broke up with him, as if that’s going to make the situation better.  Apologies aren’t something Louis does often, and it took a lot out of him to say all of that.  There’s a lot more that could be said but at this point Harry really doesn’t deserve to hear it.

“Tell me what your girlfriend said when she broke up with you,” Louis demands, looking straight ahead.  It’s probably not his business but he needs to know.

He hears Harry huff out a surprised laugh next to him, but he doesn’t look.

“She said it’s not working for her.  The distance is too much and she said I’ve been distant too.” Louis slightly nods. “She also said that, um, she wouldn’t be surprised if I found someone else.”

“What did you tell her?”

“She didn’t really give me a chance to speak,” Harry mumbles. “She thinks it’s you though.  Well, I mean it is you.  Said it’s probably ‘the guy who’s all over my Instagram.’”

Only nodding again, Louis tries not to show the small feeling of satisfaction he feels at that.

“And?”

“And what?” Harry asks, confused.

“Is it? The guy all over your Instagram?”

Harry inhales sharply, taking Louis’ hand in his own.  Louis watches him out of the corner of his eye.

“I think we both know the answer to that,” Harry whispers, running his thumb over the palm of Louis hands, sending shivers up Louis’ arm.

“If she hadn’t broken up with you first,” Louis speaks, pulling his hand out of Harry’s. “What would you have said?”

“The truth,” Harry says after a moment. “She deserves to know.”

Finally Louis turns to Harry, meeting his eyes. “And what’s the truth?”

“Louis…”

“Tell me, Harry,” Louis demands, almost begs.  He needs to hear what Harry has to say.

“That there’s you,” Harry breathes. “You, Louis. Beautiful, funny, smart you.  You who doesn’t even realize how fucking amazing you are.  I’ve been fucking mesmerized by you since I got here.  Even when you treated me like shit.”

Louis is frozen in his seat, hanging on Harry’s every word, trying to understand it all above the pounding of his own heart in his ears.

“God, Louis.  Even when you yelled at me in Starbucks for not knowing British money. I’m sorry I’ve dragged you through this mess. You don’t deserve that. Maybe it took me a while to realize how stupid I’ve been.  I mean I think I’m only just realizing now, and I’m sorry.  I really am.”

“Harry,” Louis croaks.

“No, Lou. Hold on,” Harry cuts him off. “I just, I don’t expect you to forgive me because I’ve hurt you, I know I have, and you deserve better, but I’m sorry, and fuck, Louis I love you.” The last part comes out as more of a sob than anything, and Louis doesn’t even realize he’s crying too until he feels Harry reach out and wipe his tears away softly with his thumbs.

Not being able to piece the words together for a response, Louis does the first thing that comes to mind, lean over and kiss Harry.

Pressing their lips together, Harry makes a surprised noise before bringing his hands up to cup Louis’ face.

After several moments, Harry is the one to pull away, leaving his hands on Louis’ face.

“Say something,” Harry begs.

“Fuck,” Louis laughs wetly. “I love you too, Harry. Fuck.”

It’s the first time he’s saying it out loud, and Louis feels a weight lift off his chest at his admission.  It was something he denied for so long, something he wouldn’t let himself think about, but it’s also something he’s kind of known deep down for a while.  It feels good to say it.

“You love me?” Harry repeats in disbelief, the corner of his lips turned up.

Louis laughs, reaching up to run his thumb over Harry’s beautiful, defined cheek bone. “So much,” he admits. “I’m so fucking in love with you, Harry and this is the first time I’m saying it out loud but I don’t think I’ve ever meant anything more in my life.  You have no idea what you’ve done to me these past few months.”

They study each other’s faces for a moment, cheeks and eyes both wet with tears.  Harry brings their li[s together for a short, tender kiss.

“Fuck,” Louis breathes. “It’s so fucking ironic, isn’t it?”

“What is?”

“Do you remember when I came home to you drinking that bottle of wine by yourself on the couch?”

Harry thinks for a moment before nodding.

“You asked me if I’d ever been in love,” Louis explains. “I said I didn’t think so, and now look at me. Here I am so fucking in love with you.”

“Keep saying it,” Harry laughs. “I’m so fucking in love with you too.”

“Good,” Louis whispers, and he can’t believe how much of a 180 the past few minutes have been.  It’s so surreal that he doesn’t want to think about it too much, scared he’ll wake up and it was all a dream.

“Here’s the thing though,” Louis starts.

“This doesn’t sound good,” Harry mutters.

“Just listen,” Louis rolls his eyes. “You’re just getting out of a long term relationship, so I can’t just jump into this with you.”

“But-“

“No, Harry. Listen. Just because we’ve dramatically admitted our love for each other, doesn’t mean you’re getting in my pants today.”

“But-“

“Believe me, Harry, I want to have sex with you, I really do, but not right after you just ended a relationship.”

“I guess that’s fair,” Harry grumbles. “And for the record, I really wanna have sex with you too.”

Louis throws his head back, laughing, but he would be lying if he said he wasn’t at least a little bit aroused by Harry’s words.  It has been a while since he’s gotten laid.

“I’m glad, but first you must wine and dine me,” Louis smiles.

“Well what if I want you to wine and dine _me_?” Harry pouts.

“Fine,” Louis huffs. “We can both wine and dine each other.”

“Yeah,” Harry smiles, leaning in.

“Mhm,” Louis hums before sucking Harry’s bottom lip into his mouth. “Make it a bit off a competition.”

And that’s exactly how Louis finds himself at the top of the Shard the very next evening, looking down over London with a glass of champagne in his hand and Harry to his right.

“You’re a fucking idiot,” Louis comments, looking off at the London Eye in the distance.

“Why’s that?” Harry asks, taking a sip of his own champagne.

“Because you brought me here.”

“Louis,” Harry scoffs, moving closer. “This is, like, such a romantic place to take someone.”

“Remember when I was forced to take you to Westminster?” Harry nods and laughs at the memory. “I specifically remember telling you I would not come here.”

“You wouldn’t come here? As in, if I took you to the bathroom right now and sucked you off, you wouldn’t come?”

Louis almost chokes on his champagne. “Jesus, Harry.”

“Just needed to clarify exactly what your statement meant,” Harry shrugs, intertwining their champagne free hands together.

They have another glass of overpriced champagne as they watch the sun set over London, and Louis has to admit, it is quite beautiful.  Harry, of course, snaps plenty of pictures of both the view and Louis. Once the sun has set, they head to an Italian restaurant down the street for a nice, quiet dinner.

When they slip into Louis’ bed together afterwards, he only hates himself a little bit for his rule on holding off on sex.  He is, however, more than happy to make out with Harry for what feels like hours before spooning him from behind and falling into a peaceful sleep.

Waking up next to Harry is nothing short of amazing, his chocolate locks splayed out over the pillow, mouth slightly open and breathing out little puffs of air every few seconds.

About half an hour later, Harry finally wakes up, rolling over and smiling at Louis.

“Morning, babe,” Harry whispers, voice sounding rough and gravelly.

“Morning,” Louis leans down to kiss Harry, noting the butterflies in his stomach from the pet name Harry just used.

They spend some time cuddling and kissing, taking their time waking up.

“So,” Harry speaks up after a quiet moment. “Where are you wining and dining me tonight?”

“It’s a surprise,” Louis shrugs. “But I’ll tell you two things.”

Harry smiles, nodding for Louis to continue.

“One, while your attempt to wine and dine me was lovely, I’ve really got something good planned so be prepared.”

“And?”

“And,” Louis continues. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Harry murmurs, and once again Louis hopes to God this is all real, because it’s too good to be true.  And if you’d asked him a few weeks ago where he thought he’d be right now, he never would’ve guessed here.  Hell, if you’d asked him a couple days ago, he still wouldn’t have guessed here.  But he’s really fucking happy this is where he’s at.

 Even with the temporary sex ban.

**

After a lazy morning and a short shift at work for Louis, it’s time for him to take Harry on a date.  He’s feeling pretty confident that his is going to blow Harry’s out of the water.  Not that he didn’t have a nice time the night before, but it is a little bit of a competition after all and Louis most certainly does not like to lose.

He thought a lot about all the extravagant places he could take Harry, but instead chose something that he knows is right up Harry’s hipster alley.

They take the Jubilee line one stop over to London Bridge because Louis is lazy, and they transfer to the Northern Line to take it all the way up to Camden Town.

“So, which station are we getting off at?” Harry asks when several stations go by without Louis making any indication that their stop is coming up.

Shrugging, Louis puts a hand on Harry’s knee.

“Have I been there before?”

“Yes,” Louis answers, giving Harry’s knee a squeeze.

It’s a little crowded, but not rush hour yet which Louis specifically planned for, not wanting to get caught up in crowds.  That’s something he’s definitely not fond of.

“We’re getting off next,” Louis murmurs when they stop at Euston.

Harry squints up at the map of the Northern Line before smiling and rolling his eyes. “Camden?”

When they make it out of the tube station, Louis reaches down and links their hands together, leading Harry down the street.

“Your hands are so small. I love it,” Harry comments, giving Louis’ hand a squeeze.

Louis pulls Harry across the street, picking up the pace to avoid being hit my on-coming traffic.

“I do not have small hands,” Louis grumbles, although he secretly loves it.

They walk passed the loch, and go inside to where Louis knows Harry has had his eyes on some art.

“Pick something, anything you want, and I’ll get it for you.  I know you’ve been wanting something from here so don’t say that you don’t!” Louis laughs.

Harry rolls his eyes, looking down at Louis. “Louis, you are not buying me anything from here.”

“Yes I am!” Louis argues. “But just know, whatever you pick, I most definitely will make fun of it.”

Shaking his head, Harry begins to walk to towards a booth, looking at a few pictures they’re selling. “By the time I leave England, I will have taught you to appreciate art.  Mark my words.”

By the time he leaves England. Right, Harry has to leave.  It’s not something Louis wants to think about, especially when whatever this is between them is only just starting.  He pushes those thoughts to the back of his mind, admiring the way Harry carefully examines each photo.

They walk around for a while until Harry finally finds something he likes.

“I really don’t want you paying for this,” Harry sighs, showing Louis the art work. “But, I kinda have to have it.”

It’s simple, a small painting of Big Ben, but it’s nice, but Louis doesn’t completely understand Harry’s need to have it.  He could simply take his own picture of Big Ben that looks exactly like it.

“How much?” Louis asks, pulling his wallet out of his pocket.  He hands the appropriate amount of money over to the woman running the stand, and the two make their way outside. 

Louis leads Harry over to the street vendors.

“What do you want to eat?”

Settling on Chinese food, they find an empty table, sitting down across from each other.

“Thank you for the art, Lou,” Harry smiles, digging into his orange chicken and rice.

“You’re welcome, babe,” Louis responds, the pet name slipping off his tongue.  It’s the first time he’s called Harry that, but it won’t be the last.

He’s still in such awe of how quickly things changed between the two of them, but he’s glad they did.

“So,” Harry smiles. “Does this mean that you’ll do touristy things with me now?”

Louis laughs, reaching out to touch Harry’s hand. “No, definitely not.  Although, you’ve somehow managed to drag me to several different tourist spots in the past few months so I’m sure there’s more to come.”

“There’s, like, so much stuff I still need to see in London.”

“Niall will go with you,” Louis says around a bite of food.

“But I want it to be with you,” Harry pouts.

“You can either pick touristy things or sex,” Louis smirks. “Choose wisely.”

“Louis,” Harry groans, setting down his fork.  He continues to pout, jutting his lip out.

Louis studies Harry’s face, rolling his eyes.  Harry will literally be the death of him.  Saying no to him is just going to keep getting more difficult.

“Sorry, love.  I don’t make the rules.”

He won’t admit to Harry now but he knows he’ll end up going to every damn tourist spot in London.  

He’s starting to realize he’d go to the end of the Earth for Harry, actually.  He just hopes Harry would do the same for him too.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!!  
> Feedback appreciated!!!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow this chapter is long overdue! I've been pretty busy these past few weeks but I apologize for the delay. My last day of classes are tomorrow so we should be back on track with updating now.
> 
> Enjoy!

By now Harry and Louis have been on a handful dates and they only keep getting better.  No matter where they go, the conversation flows easily and there’s always an abundance of laughter between them.

The rest of the boys have caught on to the fact that there’s definitely something going on between them now, due to the fact that they’ve both been MIA, but Harry and Louis are enjoying the little bit of privacy that they have.

They’ve decided not to tell the boys anything until they’ve fully figured themselves out.

It’s safe to say by now, Louis absolutely hates himself for not allowing sex yet, but he has been enjoying watching Harry squirm and beg.  Louis’ almost given in plenty of times before he comes to his senses.  He knows it’s only a matter of time before it happens though.  But for now, they’ve done quite a bit of kissing and groping but nothing past that, and Harry has been spending every night sleeping in Louis’ bed.

It’s Saturday morning and Louis has to be at work in an hour.

Still sleeping, Louis subconsciously shifts closer to Harry.  Harry, who woke up just a few minutes before, leans down to plant a gentle kiss on Louis cheek.  Louis stirs a bit but doesn’t actually wake up.

Smiling to himself, Harry continues to press kisses onto Louis’ face, moving from his cheek to his eyelids to his forehead.

Louis finally begins to wake when he feels Harry’s hand slip under his shirt, fingers softly brushing his stomach.  Goosebumps rise on his skin. “Harry?” He mumbles.

He feels Harry hum against his skin as he moves down to press hot kisses into Louis’ neck.

“Feels nice,” Louis comments, voice rough from sleep.  His eyes are still closed as he brings his hand up to wrap his fingers in Harry’s hair. 

Harry slides his hand Louis’ stomach, letting his fingers brush against Louis’ nipples. Leaning down, he finally connects their lips.

“Can I touch you?” Harry asks against Louis’ lips. “If you say no I’m gonna lose my fucking mind.”

Louis puffs out a breathy laugh against Harry’s lips.  Louis connects their lips one more time before taking Harry’s hand off of his nipples and guiding it down his body to cup his hard on over his underwear.  Harry begins to slowly rub his hand up and down causing Louis to throw his head back on his pillow.

Finally, after several minutes of teasing, drawing little sounds out of Louis, Harry finally pulls Louis’ underwear down.  When his hand is on Louis’ cock again, Louis can’t help the moan that escapes him.  Harry’s hand feels too good.

They’ve done this once before but it was when Harry was still with his girlfriend and they were both fairly drunk at the time too. 

After holding off on doing anything besides kissing, Louis can’t lie when he says this may be the best hand job he’s ever received.  He watches with hooded eyes as Harry’s big hand slowly stroke’s Louis up and down. 

“Harry come on,” Louis breathes when he feels Harry’s hand leave him, until he realizes what Harry’s doing.  He watches as Harry pulls off his own boxers, hard cock springing out.  Moving across the bed, Harry straddles Louis’ thighs, taking both of their cocks into his hand and begins to jerk them both off.

Louis knew Harry had big hands of course, but fuck, this is so hot. 

It only takes a few more minutes before Louis is spilling over onto both their cocks and Harry’s hand.

“Fuck yeah, Lou. So hot,” Harry breathes out.  He lets go of Louis’ cock and continues to stroke his own.

“Come on babe. Come, Harry,” Louis encourages, wanting to see the way Harry’s face will scrunch up when he comes.  Breathy little moans are escaping Harry’s mouth and if this goes on for much longer Louis will be hard again in no time.

Reaching out, Louis rubs his hands up and down the outside of Harry’s thighs while watching Harry intently.

“So close,” Harry murmurs.  His voice comes out strained as he speeds up his hand.

Moments later, Harry is coming with Louis’ names on his lips.

Harry collapses on top of Louis, groaning.

“Fuck,” Harry laughs.

“Fuck is right,” Louis says, wrapping his arms around Harry. “You’re hands are magic, babe. I swear.”

Louis plants a few kisses in Harry’s hair, holding him tighter.

The two take their time getting out of bed, sharing a few gentle kisses. They’re brought out of their little bubble when Louis’ phone goes off on the bedside table.

Louis attempts to reach for his phone with Harry still on top of him.

“Okay get off me,” Louis laughs, pushing Harry off so he can grab his phone. As soon as he sees who it is he rolls his eyes. “Of course,” he mutters.

“Who is it?” Harry asks curiously, propping himself up on an elbow.

Unlocking his phone, Louis opens the message. “Niall,” Louis answers as he scans the text in front of him.

_Louis !! Don’t think I don’t know what’s going on over there in your flat ! Let’s meet for pints tonight !_

Sighing, Louis locks his phone and tosses it across the bed.  It’s not that he’s ignoring Niall, he just doesn’t have all the answers to all the questions Niall will ask yet.  When Louis had come home from hiding at Zayn’s that one day where Niall had been sitting on his couch was the last time Louis had actually seen Niall.  He and Harry had gotten into that long conversation where they had admitted their feelings for each other and by the time they had emerged from upstairs, Niall was gone.

“He wants me to meet him for pints tonight,” Louis explains, turning on his side to face Harry. “But I don’t know.”

Harry nods. “Yeah, I get it.  We can’t avoid him forever though.  Maybe you should just go.”

Louis hums in response, not wanting to talk about it anymore. “Any plans for today?”

“Not sure,” Harry shrugs. “Do you have work today?”

“Actually, I have to be to work in like half in hour,” Louis groans.  He’d much rather stay here in bed with Harry for the rest of the day.  Saturdays are always busy.

“What time are you done?”

“Two,” Louis answers, pushing himself out of bed. “Not too bad, I guess.”

Harry pulls the sheets higher, covering himself. He snuggles further into the bed as he watches Louis rush around the room.

“I’ll pick you up from work then.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Louis says as he walks into the bathroom, flipping on the shower.  He figures he should probably wash off the come that’s drying on his stomach before work. It’s the least he can do.

Louis quickly rinses off in the shower using Harry’s vanilla body wash that has somehow made its way into Louis’ shower.  He’s not complaining though.

“I wanna take pictures in Regent’s Park today.  It looks nice outside,” Harry smiles.

“Before you pick me up from work?”

“No,” Harry answers, drawing the word out. “I’ll pick you up from work and then we can just get on the tube at Bermondsey.”

Louis narrows his eyes at Harry from across the room.

“Please,” Harry begs. “We’ll just get off at Baker Street so we won’t even have to transfer to the Bakerloo Line or anything!”

“Regent’s Park is on the other side of London,” Louis whines.

Harry rolls his eyes and throws the sheets off of him.  He pads across the room and wraps his arms around Louis from behind where Louis is digging through his dresser trying to find a shirt. “Please babe,” Harry whispers in Louis’ ear.

“There are birds at Regent’s Park. I don’t like birds.”

Eyes widening, Harry pulls back, turning Louis around. “Are you scared of birds?” Harry laughs.

Louis doesn’t say anything, turning back around to continue looking through the drawer. “Where the fuck is my work shirt?”

“You’re scared of birds!”

“There it is,” Louis mutters, pulling the black t-shirt out of the draw. “I gotta go, Harry.”

“You are scared of birds!” Harry cackles, throwing his head back. “Oh my God!”

Harry continues to laugh as he watches Louis pull on his work clothes.

“I’m not afraid of birds,” Louis rolls his eyes, lying. He grabs his wallet and phone.

“Okay,” Harry puts his hands up. “If you’re not scared then I will see you at Starbucks at two o’clock on the dot, and we will make our way to Regent’s Park.”

“Bye,” Louis grumbles, walking out the room.

“You’re not even going to give me a kiss goodbye?” Harry calls after him.

The sound of the front door shutting gives Harry his answer, but he can only shake his head and smile.

**

After a slightly hectic shift at Starbucks, Louis would be lying if he said he wasn’t at least a little bit relieved when he sees Harry walk in, camera bag in tow.

“Hey Lou,” Harry greets sitting down at an empty table to wait for Louis to finish up.

Louis would never admit this out loud but he absolutely loves the few times Harry has come to pick him up from work in the past few weeks.  It’s the little things that show that Harry does care.  It’s not that Louis thinks that he doesn’t but sometimes he has a hard time with the fact that Harry literally just got out of a relationship.

“Hey!” Louis calls from the back.  He quickly finishes up what he’s doing and grabs his things.

When he emerges from the back, Harry stands up with a smile on his face.

“Ready?”

Louis nods, handing Harry a drink.

“What’s this?”

“I was feeling generous so I made you one of your nasty lattes,” Louis shrugs.

Harry’s smile widens.  He leans down and presses a kiss to Louis’ cheek. “Thanks, babe.  That’s sweet of you.”

Louis follows Harry out the door, and before he realizes it he’s getting his Oyster card out and tapping in.

“Wait!” Louis groans when the get on the escalator. “I don’t wanna go to the park!”

He feels Harry crowd up behind him. “It’s the least you can do after I gave you that spectacular orgasm this morning,” Harry whispers in Louis’ ear.

Louis throws his head back, laughing. “The least you can do, huh?” Louis raises his eyebrow, turning around the face Harry.

Harry nods, lacing their fingers together as they get off the escalator.

“Really?” Louis crowds closer to Harry.  They stand on the platform waiting for the next train. “Because, I recall you practically begging to touch me. In fact, I remember you saying you were going to lose your mind if I didn’t let you!”

They keep their voices hushed, and Louis wraps his arm around Harry’s waist.  He squeezes Harry’s side, always loving getting his hands on Harry’s soft hips.

“Never said that!”

“Did too!”

“Okay fine,” Harry pulls Louis in. “Always wanna touch you.” He leans down at connects his lips with Louis’ just as the train arrives.

They get off at Baker Street as Harry suggested and begin their walk around Regent’s Park.  It is a nice park, and Louis does enjoy the fresh air.  The birds on the other hand are another story.

Harry stops often to take pictures of the beautiful, colorful flowers that are blooming as spring has begun to arrive in London.

“These pics gonna go on your Instagram, babe? You haven’t posted anything in a while.  Your fans must be dying!”

“Shut it,” Harry laughs, rolling his eyes.

There are a few occasions where they do run into some birds and Louis tries to stay calm, cool, and collected not wanting to give Harry more reason to laugh about it.  But, Harry does laugh the entire time, promising Louis he’ll protect him if a bird does, in fact, try to attack Louis.

On the way back, Louis texts Niall agreeing to meet for pints after some encouragement from Harry.

“So what are you going to say when Niall inevitably asks if we’re together?” Harry asks Louis as he watches Louis get ready to go out.

Louis looks up, shrugging. “We should probably talk about that shouldn’t we?”

“Yeah, I think we probably should,” Harry agrees.  Louis walks across the room and sits down on the bed next to Harry.

“I don’t know, babe.  These past few weeks with you have been so good. I don’t even know the last time I was this happy,” Louis admits, looking down at the duvet.  He picks at the seams as he speaks. “I love you, and I don’t think I can apologize enough for how I treated you before.  But I do want to be with you.”

He hears Harry inhale sharply. “I love you too, and I want to be with you too. I know you’re worried about the fact that my past relationship literally just ended, and I get that.  But you make me so happy, Lou.  And I forgive you for everything that happened before and you know I’m sorry for what I did as well. I know I’m not here forever, and we do eventually need to talk about that.  But I would love it if I could call you my boyfriend.”

As Harry speaks, Louis feels a blush creep up on his cheeks, and his heart rate pick up at Harry’s words.  He’s always so honest and raw with his emotions and it’s something that Louis both admires and is scared of.

Looking up, Louis meets Harry’s eyes, reaching out to lace their fingers together. “I would love to call you my boyfriend too.”

Immediately, Harry lunges across the bed and presses their lips together.  There’s a lot of passion behind it and as Harry continues to mold their lips together, Louis really wishes he didn’t have to leave soon to meet Niall.

“I love you so much,” Harry says against Louis’ lips. “Boyfriend.”

Louis presses their lips together again. “I love you, too,” Louis responds, pulling back. “I wish I didn’t have to leave.”

“Fuck, me too,” Harry groans. He begins to press kisses down Louis’ neck. “Now that we’re officially together does that mean that we can finally, you know…” Harry trails off, still working on Louis’ neck.

Louis laughs, tangling his fingers in Harry’s hair. “I don’t see why not,” he admits.

At those words, Harry pulls off Louis’ neck, looking at him with wide eyes. “Really, Lou? You really mean it?”

Louis cups Harry’s cheeks, kissing him once. “Yes, I mean it.”

He kisses Harry again and then kisses his way from Harry’s mouth, across his cheek all the way to Harry’s ear. “Gonna go meet Niall, and then gonna get home as fast as I can. Gonna fuck you when I get back, baby. Gonna fuck you so good, nice and slow.  Is that what you want?”

Harry whines, palming himself.

“Is that what you want?” Louis asks again.

Nodding enthusiastically, Harry continues to palm himself.  Louis pulls back, and removes Harry’s hand from where he’s touching himself. “Don’t touch until I’m back.”

Louis plants one more kiss on Harry’s pink lips before leaving.  If he stayed any longer, he doesn’t think he would have the willpower to pull himself away from Harry.

He wants nothing more than to stay.  Wants nothing more than to fuck Harry’s brains out right then and there, but he can’t.  Not yet at least.

As he makes his way to the door he attempts to adjust himself, hoping that his raging hard on isn’t too obvious. He’ll have to make this little get together as quick as possible without being too suspicious.

When he gets to the pub, he spots Niall in the corner and sits down, tight smile on his face.

“You’re alive!” Niall exclaims.  “Finally decided to stop ignoring me, huh?”

“I wasn’t ignoring you,” Louis sighs. “Harry and I just had some things to figure out.”

“So I take it then that you two have figured things out then?”

Louis bounces his knee up and down, too much energy and anticipation running through him.

“Yeah we have,” he smiles, genuinely. “We are, uh, officially together.” It feels good to say it.

Niall fist pumps and reaches over and high fives Louis. “Finally! About time! If you two didn’t figure things out, you would have given me a stroke, I swear.”

“Well, don’t worry.”

“Thank fuck. I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks.”

Niall furrows his eyebrows. “You’re being weird.”

Well, fuck.  He was trying to act natural but obviously that’s not working.

“Just nervous is all.  You know, to tell you and everything,” Louis explains.  It’s not exactly a lie. 

Of course, Niall gives Louis a long speech about not hurting Harry, and he promises he will give the same speech to Harry as well.  And finally, after an hour and a half, they go their separate ways.

Louis speed walks home, not wanting to look too ridiculous by actually running.  Although he wants to.

“Harry!” he calls when he opens the door, and before he can even take his shoes off, Harry is there pressing him into the door, lips moving against Louis.

“Took so long,” Harry murmurs. “Been waiting forever.”

“I’m sorry, baby.  I was thinking about you the whole time,” Louis admits, hands coming down the cup Harry’s ass.

“Was thinking about you too,” Harry grinds against Louis. “Was thinking about all the things I want you to do to me.”

“Yeah?”

Harry nods fervently, eyes wide.

“Why don’t we go upstairs and you can tell me all about it,” Louis suggests.

Harry nods again, grinding against Louis’ thigh.

“Hold on, babe.  Just for a minute so we can go upstairs,” Louis says.  He tangles their fingers together and leads Harry upstairs, helping him get comfortable on the bed.

He’s taken back by how beautiful Harry looks, staring up at him with wide, trusting eyes.

Fuck, Louis loves him so much.  Tonight is long overdue, but he’s going to take his sweet time with Harry. They do have to make up for a lot of lost time, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading!!! feedback is welcomed as always :)


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and here we are...chapter 14! slightly shorter than some of the most recent chapters but pretty important! enjoy :)

It's not that they've only been having sex for the past week but it definitely feels that way. They've at least taken breaks to eat, sleep, and shower. Although showering usually leads to some sort of shower sex. Maybe Harry has skipped a couple classes this week and maybe Louis has called off work a few times and skipped a few classes as well but who can really blame them. The tension has been building between them for a couple months now and it's only natural to make up for lost time by having as much sex as possible for an entire week, right?

It's hard to make yourself get out of bed when you're woken up by a bleary eyed, cuddly Harry every morning offering to blow you. Louis likes Harry's mouth, he likes it a lot.

Unfortunately though, Harry's mouth is not anywhere near Louis right now. He had a class that he absolutely could not miss so he dragged himself out of bed and left Louis with several kisses and a promise that he would be back as soon as he possibly could.

As soon as possible is not very soon because Louis has been laying in bed for at least two hours now trying to fall back asleep until Harry comes back. He's trying, he really is, but all he can think about is Harry. Harry's lips, Harry's tongue, his big hands, the sounds he makes during sex. He's thinking about the first time they had sex because holy fuck that had been amazing.

Every time so far has been amazing but there's something about the first time.

Louis had taken Harry upstairs and laid him out on the bed. He remembers how breathtaking Harry had looked, eyes dark with want and red lips parted. 

As much as he had wanted to waste no time getting right to it, he decided to take his sweet time, slowly undressing Harry and kissing every part of his body while he made Harry tell him everything he wanted. Avoiding Harry's cock, Louis mapped out his body with his mouth while Harry had babbled on breathlessly. 

"Everything," Harry had cried. "Want everything with you."

That's when Louis had finally given in, taking Harry's hard, leaking cock in his hand. He kept the pace nice and slow until Harry was begging for more, faster, for Louis' fingers.

"Okay baby," Louis agreed, reaching for the lube. Harry had warned him that it's been a while since he's been fucked as he'd been with his ex girlfriend for some time, and that had only made Louis more eager. Slowly, he slid the first finger in and almost moaned at how tight Harry was around just one finger. He continued to take it slow though, not wanting to hurt Harry.

Slowly working their way up to three fingers, Harry had only continued to become more responsive, throwing his head back as Louis continued to work his fingers in and out, hitting Harry's prostate each time. 

"Ready," Harry had finally gasped. Louis pumped his fingers a few more times before he reached over to grab a condom. 

"I love you," Louis had murmured as he lined the tip of his cock with Harry's entrance.

"Love you too," Harry groaned when Louis began to push in. "So fucking much." 

While he waited until Harry was ready for him to move, Louis leaned down to suck several dark love bites into Harry's neck. He wanted Harry to look in the mirror the next day and remember how good it was, how deep inside him Louis was.

"Fuck you feel so good," Louis had moaned when he could finally move. He remembers thinking that he didn't know if he could last for more than a few minutes with how warm and tight Harry was around him. 

"Yeah," Harry whimpered. "Feel so good inside me. So full, Lou."

Those words had driven Louis absolutely mad. He was just so in awe of this beautiful boy, his beautiful boy. 

It hadn't taken long after that for Louis to come, spilling into the condom, Harry clenching around him impossibly tighter. A minute later Harry was coming with Louis' name of his lips on Louis' hand on his cock. 

"Mine," Louis had whispered against Harry's lips, kissing him slowly before pulling out. 

It was one of the best orgasms he's ever had, apart from when Harry had eaten him out until he was practically crying several hours later. 

Since then they've continued to have sex all over the flat in possibly almost every position imaginable.

"Hey babe," Harry greets entering the room.

"Fuck!" Louis jumps as he's pulled back to the present. "Scared me, I didn't even hear you come in."

Harry chuckles, dropping his bag on that floor. Louis notices the bright red love bite he had sucked into Harry's jaw before he had gone to class. He loves the way they stand out on Harry's milky skin. 

"How was class?"

Shrugging, Harry peels his jeans off, leaving him in just his boxers and a white t-shirt. "Boring." Harry walks across the room and collapses on top of Louis. "Oh," Harry laughs in surprise. "Is that a banana in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

Louis rolls his eyes as Harry peels back the blanket to reveal Louis' half hard cock in his boxers. He may have gotten a little excited thinking about all the sex they've been having, how tight and perfect Harry is.

Harry brings his hand down to rub at Louis over the thin material. 

"Could've sworn I just got you off two hours ago, hmm?" Harry teases.

"Was thinking about you," Louis admits, holding back a moan.

Raising his eyebrows, Harry squeezes Louis cock. "Oh yeah? What about me?"

"Harry," Louis whines, bucking his hips up into Harry's hands hoping Harry will get the message and slip his hand under Louis' boxers.

Harry smirks. "Tell me and I'll touch you for real."

Louis rolls his eyes again, slightly annoyed but at this point he'll do anything to get Harry's hand on him. "Just thinking about how fucking tight you are."

Breathing out a laugh, Harry leans down and connects their lips, and slides his hand into Louis' underwear.  Harry continues to kiss him, swallowing up all of Louis' breathy little moans until he's coming all over Harry's hands several minutes later.

"Fuck," Louis laughs once Harry cleans them both off. "I'll blow you later, I promise."

Harry hums in agreement, laying down next to Louis. 

A nap and a blow job later, and Louis is sitting on the couch with Zayn watching football while Harry goes out to pick up a few things from the shop. It's been a few weeks since they've seen each other simply because Zayn's been very busy with work.  That's one reason why Louis misses Zayn as a flatmate.  He works all the time but since they lived together before they still saw each other everyday.  Now that they aren't flatmates anymore, it can be tough to find time to hang out.

"You look happy," Zayn notes, looking away from the TV.  Even though they haven't seen each other recently, Louis' been keeping Zayn up to date with everything that's happened between him and Harry ever since Louis stayed over at his flat for those awful few days.

Louis shrugs, smiling. "I am happy. Actually, like really fucking happy." It's been a while since he's felt this way, so happy and carefree. "Everything is so fucking ironic, like I fucking hated Harry when he got here and look at us now! It wasn't just five minutes before you got here that his dick was half way down my throat!"

Zayn's eyes widen. He picks up the pillow that's lying next to him on the couch and chucks it at Louis. "What the fuck, Louis! I don't need to know that shit!"

While he wasn't lying about Harry's dick down his throat, he only said it purely to piss Zayn off. Pissing Zayn off is an old past time of his.

"His dick is fucking massive too," Louis shrugs nonchalantly.

Zayn raises his hands up. "Don't wanna know, mate. Although I'm not surprised." 

Louis laughs, chucking the pillow back at Zayn.

"When does he go back to America?"

Oh. It's just now that Louis realizes that he actually has no fucking clue when Harry's leaving.

When Louis doesn't answer and Zayn notices the look of panic on Louis' face, he speaks up again. "Don't fucking tell me you don't know! You guys have, like, talked about this right?" 

"Well, uh, no," Louis answers faintly. It's not that he hadn't realized they haven't talked about it, and he knows they need to. But the fact that he doesn't even know when his own boyfriend is leaving. Harry could be leaving next week for all he knows. Although Louis knows that's highly unlikely considering its nearing the end of March and they don't end the school year until the end of May. 

"Louis!" Zayn groans. "Are you a fucking idiot?" 

"Well...," Louis trails off, diverting his eyes from Zayn's death glare.

"You have to talk about this, Lou!"

"I know," Louis sighs. "I just, I don't wanna think about him leaving yet. I mean we just started figuring things out, and I really love him." 

Zayn's face softens. "I know, Lou. Just promise me you guys will talk about it, yeah?"

Louis just nods, turning back to the football match on TV and pushes those thoughts to the back of his mind.

"Lou? I'm home!" Harry calls out when he walks through the door half an hour later. 

"Hey love," Louis greets as Harry walks into the room. He watches cross the room with a smile on his face.

"Hey Zayn," Harry smiles before sitting on the couch next to Louis, pecking him on the cheek.

"Awww," Zayn coos. "The happy couple. You know, last time I was with both of you, you guys still hated each other." 

"Hey!" Harry frowns, putting an arm around Louis. "I never hated Louis!"

Louis snorts, cuddling closer to Harry.

Liam and Niall come over later, joining them for a night in on the couch. It's the first time they've all hung out since becoming a couple and the three of them tease Harry and Louis all night. They don't mind though, it's nice.

*  
It's a week later that Louis finally brings it up. 

It's a particularly nice day and Harry drags Louis all the way out to Primrose Hill. It's slightly crowded but they find a nice spot where Harry sets down a blanket. They packed a little lunch and a bottle of wine that Louis sets down on the blanket before collapsing on top of it. 

"So tired from that long journey," Louis grumbles. 

Harry huffs out of a laugh, sitting down next to Louis. "Babe, it was like 20 minutes and all you had to do was sit on the tube."

"But I had to carry that backpack," he points out.

"Poor Louis," Harry teases, running his hand up and down Louis' back.

They eat their food in a comfortable silence, Harry looking over at the London sky line while Louis looks at Harry. 

"What?" Harry asks, looking over at Louis, the corner of his lips turned up. 

Louis shakes his head. "Nothing. Just admiring how beautiful you are."

Harry leans over and kisses Louis. "You're quite beautiful as well," he murmurs against Louis' lips.

"Harry," Louis says after a moment. "Can we, like, talk about something?"

Harry nods, clearly confused.

"Well," Louis takes a deep breath. He's waited long enough and he knows this can't wait much longer. "You're leaving eventually and we need to talk about it, don't you think?" 

"Yeah, you're right," Harry frowns. "Well, l still have a decent amount of time left. April's just begun. I don't leave until June 10th." 

Louis can't help but feel slightly relieved. It's more time than he expected. 

"God, Lou. I wish I didn't have to leave. I love London, I love you," Harry tells him as he links their hands together. "Leaving is going to be so fucking hard."

"I know," Louis says sympathetically, squeezing Harry's hand. "I love you too, baby."

"I would love for us to stay together but Lou, realistically is that possible?"

"I don't know," Louis admits. "I don't want to break up either but, when would we see each other again? I mean, babe, I'd do absolutely anything to see you as much as possible but with a Starbucks salary, it certainly wouldn't be easy."

Harry nods, shifting closer. "I have one semester left when I get back. I'm graduating in December. I've definitely always dreamed of moving to London. I mean..."

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Louis asks, heart rate picking up a bit.

"What I'm saying is, if we can make it six months apart, seeing each other maybe twice in that time, if we're lucky, then I could get a job here after I graduate. It's something I've kind of considered before I even came here."

Louis' face breaks into a smile, immediately pressing their lips together. "Babe, if that's what you really, truly want, then I am absolutely on board with it. But, I don't want to, like, limit you when it comes to job options. I mean, what if you get a really great job offer that isn't here. I don't want to stand in the way of your success."

As much as Louis wants Harry to move back here he would never, ever want to limit Harry in any way.

"Louis, no. I could be offered the most amazing job in the world but if it wasn't here with you, I wouldn't be happy. You make me happy, London makes me happy. This is where I want to be, okay?" 

"Okay," Louis smiles, and he feels all the weight on his shoulders lift. Sure, being away from each other for six months will be difficult but it'll be a hell of a lot easier than breaking up. That certainly went better than he thought it would. He should've brought it up earlier, it would have saved him a lot of stress.

They spend the rest of the day on Primrose Hill, cuddling and exchanging lazy kisses. They watch the sunset, and Louis doesn't think he's ever been so happy in his life. There's a beautiful sunset in front of him and his beautiful boy next to him. 

If this is where Harry wants to be, Louis certainly isn't going to stop him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feedback appreciated as always! only three chapters left!


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow i'm so incredibly sorry this update took so long!!! i've been working on some other things and I was on vacation visiting some friends. but here's chapter 15!

It’s been a few weeks since their talk on Primrose Hill and April is well under way. Despite the fact each day passing means Louis has less time left with Harry, he feels like he can breathe a little easier now.  Now that he knows that Harry is fully committed to this, that he wants to move to fucking _London_. 

In fact, Louis hasn’t stopped thinking about it.  Until Harry brought it up, he never even thought about the fact that it would even be a possibility. 

Overall, things have been moving a little bit on the fast side between them, but Louis can’t say he minds one bit. He’s pretty pleased with how things are currently going.

“You know that saying,” Harry says one morning over breakfast. “Paris is always a good idea?”

Louis hums into a bite of toast.

“Well, do you think that’s true?”

“What?” Louis asks. “Do I think Paris is always a good idea?”

Harry nods and Louis’ eyes immediately go to the deep red love bite he left on Harry’s neck earlier this morning.

“I mean, I don’t see how Paris is ever a bad idea,” Louis shrugs, not exactly sure where this conversation is going.

“So you’ve been then?”

Louis takes a sip of his tea, thinking back to the only time he’s ever been. “Yeah, school trip. I was like 13, just a young little whippersnapper.”

Harry snorts, “Whippersnapper. Some of the things you people say over here, I swear.”

Laughing, Louis tosses his napkin at Harry. “So, what prompted all these Paris questions then?”

“Oh!” Harry smiles. “I wanna go!”

Louis raises an eyebrow. “Oh do you?”

“Yes, Louis, I do. I’ve never been, and it’s not far to get there, right?”

“It’s like 2 and a half hours on the Eurostar,” he answers.

“That’s not bad,” Harry hums. “You, me, the city of love. What do ya say?”

Louis reaches over and grabs Harry’s plate, stacking it on top of his own.  He walks them over to sink, placing them there.  He’ll clean them later. “Sounds proper romantic.”

“It _is_ proper romantic,” Harry answers, waggling his eyebrows as he speaks.

Slowly but surely Louis has started to realize that can’t say no to Harry so he just rolls his eyes and promises they’ll look into it.  It’s just so hard when Harry is looking at him with those big, green, hopefully eyes.

He buys them two train tickets and books a hotel later that day during his break at work.

**

“Hey babe,” Louis smiles, walking into his room where Harry is spread out on the bed clicking away at his laptop.

“Hi,” Harry says, looking up to give Louis a dimply smile.

There’s fluttering in Louis’ stomach as he walks across the room to change into a pair of joggers and a t-shirt.  Here’s Harry, all comfortable and relaxed on Louis’ bed, and Louis can’t even remember the last time Harry was in his own room apart from going in there to retrieve clothes. It feels so domestic.

“What’s up?”

Harry shrugs, shutting his laptop. “Was just editing some pictures.  There’s some really gorgeous ones of you on there.  I can’t wait to show you them when I’m done, although you really don’t need any editing.”

Louis just smacks him on the shoulder before leaning over to connect their lips.

“Whatever you say, babe,” he says against Harry’s cherry lips.

“So, do you want to look at prices to go to Paris?” Harry asks when they pull apart, and Louis should’ve known Harry would be this eager about it.

“Actually,” Louis starts, drawing out the word. “I already looked at the prices on my break at work.”

“You did?” Harry asks, eyes wide. “Was it expensive? If it’s too much we don’t have to go, Lou.  We can always wait, you know? I mean next year is always an option.  I don’t want us to spend too much money especially when-“

“I bought the tickets,” Louis interrupts.

That shuts Harry up right away.  Louis watches as he opens and closes his mouth several times, no words coming out.

 

"You did what now?"

 

Grabbing his phone, Louis unlocks it and pulls up his e-mail to where he has all the information and confirmation emails stored.  He finds the one showing the time and date, and taps on it. 

 

"Here," Louis says, handing Harry the phone so he can see for himself. "Two round trip tickets to Paris."

 

Harry stares down at the phone, eyes wide as he scrolls through the email. Louis watches on as Harry shakes his head in disbelief. "Lou," he whispers, looking up to meet Louis' eyes. "You didn't!"

"I did," Louis smiles proudly. "You wanted to go to Paris, well guess what baby, I'm taking you to Paris!"

 

Before he can even realize what's happening, Louis is being tackled by Harry, his lips kissing every inch of Louis' face. "Best boyfriend ever," Harry says, punctuating every word with a kiss. 

 

_Boyfriend._ It's still not something Louis is completely used to, and every time he hears Harry say it, he's reminded of how lucky he is to be able to call Harry his, especially after he treated Harry like complete shit for so long. 

 

"I love you," Louis murmurs, bringing their lips together.

 

"Love you too," Harry murmurs back. "Can't wait for you to make love to me in the city of love."

 

"Oh my God!" Louis pulls back. "You're so fucking cheesy."

 

Harry shrugs, moving to lay down next to Louis. "What can I say, we eat a lot of cheese in America."

 

"Shut up," Louis laughs, poking Harry in the chest. "Who says I'm going to make love to you in the city of love anyway, hm? A bit presumptuous, don't you think?"

 

Rolling onto his side to face Louis, Harry smirks. "Nope."

 

"No?"

 

"No," Harry repeats. "I know you can't resist me."

 

Louis wants to kiss that smirk right off Harry's face, so he does. 

 

“See?” Harry laughs. “You just proved my point. I am irresistible.”

 

“You’re something,” Louis grumbles.

 

 

**

The week leading up to their trip to Paris passes by slowly as the anticipation continues to build.  Louis talks about Paris more than necessary just because I likes to watch the way Harry’s eyes light up every time.

Niall, Zayn, and Liam have all been teasing Louis about how sappy Harry has made him. Louis doesn’t give a fuck though.

After a week of course work and shifts at Starbucks, they finally find themselves on the Eurostar, ready to take on Paris.

“I can’t wait to see the Eiffel Tower,” Harry beams, next to Louis. “I can’t believe I’m actually going to see the Eiffel Tower.”

Louis laughs, putting his arm around Harry’s shoulder. “I know, babe. Your Instagram followers are going to love all your Paris pictures.”

“Shut up,” Harry smacks his shoulder.  Louis never stops giving him shit about his Instagram fame.

It’s only minutes later that Harry curls up against Louis’ side and sleeps through the entire train ride.  Louis doesn’t mind though.

**

“Baby, were here,” Louis whispers, gently shaking Harry’s shoulder to wake him up.  He isn’t exactly a light sleeper so this can be a challenge at times.

By the time Harry is actually awake, most everyone on the train has already exited. 

“Sorry,” Harry mumbles sheepishly, collecting his bag.

The two somehow manage to find their way to their hotel. It isn’t far from the Eiffel Tower, which Harry is very pleased about. 

Louis, on the other hand, is very pleased to find out that Harry can actually speak French relatively well.

“What the fuck?” Louis demands.  They’re sitting in a small café near their hotel, and Harry has just ordered for them in French.

“What?”

“I think you forgot to mention that you speak French!” Louis has a thing for guys who speak other languages.  It’s a huge turn on.

“Pardonne-moi,” Harry smirks. “I’m not, like, completely fluent or anything but I can get by.”

“You’re so interesting, babe. Seriously, you’re an amazing photographer, you speak French.  Your clothes are a bit ridiculous, but, like, in the best way.”

“I think that was a compliment but I’m not really sure,” Harry laughs.

Louis shakes his head, “No, it definitely was a compliment.  You’re just,your own person, you know? And I love that about you. You don’t care what people think, you just do what makes you happy.  That’s an amazing quality to have.”

“The only opinion I care about is yours,” he murmurs, taking a sip of the tea that was just brought to them.

When Harry sets his tea down, Louis takes his hand and brings it to his lips, pressing a tender kiss there. “God, I love you.”

“I love you, too. Now, let’s finish this tea and go see the Eiffel Tower!”

The Eiffel Tower is completely breath taking.  Although Louis had seen it once before, he was at an age where he couldn’t quite appreciate it.  Now though, he’s pretty amazed by it.  He smiles watching Harry take what has to be hundreds of pictures.

“What do you think, Lou?” he asks, putting his camera down as he plops down on the grass next to Louis.

“Pretty cool,” Louis admits, tipping his head back to take it all in.

“I wasn’t sure since it’s such a big tourist thing,” Harry shrugs.

Louis rolls his eyes. “No, the Eiffel Tower is sick. Is it everything you thought it would be?”

Harry smiles, shaking his head enthusiastically. “Yes! It’s very surreal though.”

After spending a few hours enjoying the beautiful weather in front of the Eiffel Tower, they walk hand in hand just exploring the streets of Paris. They find a nice café to eat dinner at before they decide to head back to the hotel, tired from their travels this morning.

Once they’ve both showered, they crawl into bed facing each other.

“Thank you for bringing me here,” Harry whispers.

“Anything for you, babe,” Louis says back, leaning in to connect their lips.

“I love you so much, Lou. So fucking much.”

“I love you too. Can I touch you, sweetheart?”

Harry whines, shaking his head yes. Louis presses their lips back together as his hand slowly travels down Harry’s body until he’s cupping Harry through his boxers, gently massaging. Harry bucks his hips up into Louis’ touch attempting to get more friction.

“Louis, come on,” Harry groans. 

Finally, after several more minutes of teasing Harry over the thin cloth, Louis removes his hand to pull down Harry’s boxers. He places his hand on Harry’s cock, pumping it a few times before positioning himself between Harry’s spread legs.

“Gonna suck you now, babe.  Is that what you want?” Louis leans down to press several gentle kisses onto Harry’s cock before Harry can even answer.

Harry whines, throwing his head back. “Yeah,” he breathes. “Then I want your cock, Lou.”

That’s all Louis needs to hear before he’s taking Harry’s cock into his mouth, sucking the head before taking more into his mouth.  He takes his time, alternating between agonizingly slow, and a hard and fast pace. Louis knows exactly how crazy it drives Harry, sweet little whimpers escaping his mouth.  Each sound goes straight to Louis’ cock where it lies hard in his boxers.  He barely even notices though, so focused on making his boy feel good.

“L-Lou. Louis! Stop!” Harry urges as Louis takes him deeper, rolling Harry’s balls in the hand that isn’t on Harry’s cock. “Gonna come if you don’t stop!”

Louis pulls off, reluctantly, sitting back on his feet.  Harry already looks fucked out, eyes a bit hazy, just from having his cock sucked.  It’s a look Louis absolutely loves.

“I’m just gonna go grab the stuff from my bag, okay?” Louis tells him, reaching out to gently stroke Harry’s thighs before pushing himself up off the bed.  When he comes back, several moments later, he sets the lube and condom on the bed next to Harry’s legs and takes off his own boxers.  He can’t wait to get his fingers inside Harry but first, he can’t resist crawling up the bed to give Harry a few kisses.

Their lips slide together while Harry reaches out for Louis’ cock, stroking it as Louis slips his tongue in Harry’s mouth. He groans against Harry’s lips at the feeling of Harry’s soft hands working on his cock.

“Fuck,” Louis moans, pulling away. “I’m gonna open you up now, baby.”

Louis presses one last kiss onto his lips before removing Harry’s hand from his cock and repositioning himself between Harry’s legs.

Slicking up his fingers, Louis leans down to press a few kisses onto Harry’s stomach as he presses the first finger in. Slowly, they work their way up to three fingers, Harry letting out beautiful moans every time Louis hits his prostate.

When Harry deems that he’s ready, Louis rolls the condom on, slicking himself up and adding more lube around Harry’s entrance to ensure that he’ll be as comfortable as possible. He lines himself up, and slowly pushes in, locking eyes with Harry.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Harry curses, throwing his head back in pleasure, loving the feeling of Louis’ thick cock filling him up.  Louis bends down to press a few kisses into his neck, waiting for Harry to tell him he can move.

Finally, after several agonizing moments, Harry gives him the okay. Louis begins to move his hips, rocking in and out of Harry.  Harry reaches out to join their hands together while Louis leans down to capture Harry’s mouth with his own.

They continue with the slow pace, drawing moans out of each other until they’re both coming within seconds of each other. Louis gently pulls out, tying up the condom and tossing it in the relative direction of the garbage.

“Fucking hell,” Louis laughs, collapsing next to Harry, gathering him up in his arms.

Harry lets out a little chuckle, pressing a kiss to Louis’ cheek. “We made love in the city of love, just like I said!”

“Sap,” Louis laugh, pulling Harry in closer. He can’t help but think that he’s become pretty fucking sappy as well. Before Harry he never used the term “making love.” He never saw himself moving so fast with someone.  Harry’s brought out another side of himself, and while the rest of the boys may tease him, he doesn’t give a fuck how sappy Harry’s made him.  The past month has been nothing short of amazing.

“I love you,” Harry yawns.

“Love you,” Louis whispers, pressing a gentle to kiss to Harry’s forehead.  They both drift off wrapped up in each other and it’s the best Louis sleeps in a long time.

The rest of their weekend in Paris is spent hitting all the touristy sights and consuming more croissants than anyone should ever eat.  But it’s amazing. Every penny spent is worth it to see the constant smile on Harry’s face.

They’re both a little bit sad to leave Paris, but school and work calls at home back in London.

It’s on the train ride back when Harry nudges Louis’ shoulder. “Check your Instagram,” he smiles.

Louis rolls his eyes, slightly nervous as to what Harry might have posted. When he pulls the app up, he’s met with a picture of the two of them in front of the Eiffel Tower, Louis’ lips pressed to Harry’s cheek while Harry’s laughing at something Louis had said just moments before.  It’s a nice picture.

_Paris was an absolute dream come true thanks to my favorite boy in the entire world.  Thank you for everything you do for me, Louis. You bring me so much happiness. I love you more than you know. Xxxxxxx :)_

Louis reads over the caption several times, a small smile on his face.  When he looks up he sees Harry watching him intently, lip between his teeth.

“For once, I don’t hate your Instagram post,” Louis jokes, pecking Harry’s lips. “I’m glad you liked Paris.”

Harry shrugs. “Of course I liked Paris. God, Lou, I think I’d like anything as long as you were there with me. I just, fuck. I just feel so lucky to have you.  Do you know that?”

Louis can see the urgency in Harry’s eyes and he breathes in sharply, suddenly feeling overwhelmed.

“I feel the same about you, Harry,” Louis turns in his seat to face him. “You mean the fucking world to me.”

Harry only beams, smile shining like the sun.  He cuddles himself in as close as possible to Louis.

“Thank you for everything,” Harry whispers.

Louis leans down and kisses the top of Harry’s head.  He never thought of himself as particularly lucky, but he’s starting to realize he might have been wrong about that.  If there’s one thing he learned recently, it’s that he’s the luckiest son of a bitch in the entire world and he’d be a fucking fool to mess this up.  Harry is one special person, and he’s all Louis’.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hard to believe there's only two chapters left!!! hope everyone is enjoying :)


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow i'm so sorry this took literally forever but thank you for your patience!!! I've been extremely busy with my summer job but here's chapter 16!
> 
> p.s. make sure to check out the article that's linked in the chapter so you know what I'm talking about when you're reading!

“Hey, so I have an idea,” Harry turns to Louis while they’re sitting on the couch watching a movie. It’s been several weeks since they’ve gotten back from Paris and while it was sad to leave the beautiful city, they feel closer than ever after their weekend away.

  
Louis sees the glint in Harry’s eye and he’s a little scared to ask what idea Harry could possibly have. “What is it?”

  
“I saw this article on Buzzfeed,” Harry smiles. “It was called “[18 Places That Will Make You Fall Back In Love With London](https://www.buzzfeed.com/chelseypippin/18-completely-underrated-sights-in-london?utm_term=.kr3VOxgk9m#.nxxPObw382).”

  
“Okay, but you’re already in love with London, babe.”

  
“Yes, that’s true, and you. I’m in love with you. But, you are not in love with London, Louis. So let’s do all the things on the list so you can fall back in love with London again!”

  
Raising his eyebrows, Louis lets out a chuckle. “Eighteen things? Babe, that’s a lot. Not to mention, that’s probably going to add up to a lot of money.”

  
“That’s where you’re wrong!” Harry exclaims, reaching for his phone which is sitting on the coffee table in front of them. “Most of them are outside type things. No money needed there.”

  
Louis pulls Harry in, smacking a kiss onto his cheek. “Well you just have an answer for everything, don’t ya?”

  
“I’m very prepared,” Harry answers, turning so that he can connect their lips together.

  
They kiss slowly for several minutes, lips sliding together with no real intention behind it. “I have a compromise,” Louis announces, pulling away from Harry. The only response Harry gives his a hum, attempting to chase Louis’ lips. “Stop!” he laughs against Harry’s lips. “Do you want to hear my compromise or not?”

  
“Sorry,” Harry chuckles, pressing one more kiss to Louis’ lips. “What’s the compromise?”

  
“You can pick a few of the places on the list. No way in hell I’m going to eighteen, but I can put up with a few.”

  
Face lighting up, Harry reaches for his phone to look at the list again. “Oh my God, babe. This is gonna be so fun, I promise. Plus, by the end you’ll have fallen in love with London all over again!”

  
“I’m just glad you’re not taking me to fucking Abbey Road again.”  
**  
After looking over the list several times, Harry decides which ones he wants to take Louis to. It’s a tough decision but he hopes that Louis will genuinely enjoy these experiences.

  
“So don’t be mad,” Harry says as they’re walking towards the tube station. “but we’re going to Piccadilly.”

  
Louis stop in his tracks, eyes widening. “Your way of making me fall in love with London again is by taking me to fucking Piccadilly Circus? You’ve got this completely backwards if that’s the case, love.”

  
“No, I know what I’m doing,” Harry waves his hand. “Now come on.”

  
Louis finally starts walking again, having to pick up the pace to catch up with Harry. When he finally catches up, Harry tangles their hands together, a little smirk on his face.

  
“We’re actually getting off at Green Park so we don’t have to transfer or anything,” Harry informs him.

  
Sighing, Louis rolls his eyes. “Why the fuck would you scare me like that?”

  
“Well, eventually we’ll have to walk through Piccadilly Circus.”

  
“Okay, no. I’m not going.”

  
“And Leicester Square.”

  
“Harry!”

  
“And Covent Garden.”

  
Louis does everything in his power to get his hand out of Harry’s grip, but Harry isn’t letting go. “You’re out of your fucking mind, mate.”

  
“All I’m doing is taking you to places on the list, mate.” Harry rolls his eyes, a smile on his face. He finally lets go of Louis’ hand so he can take his Oyster Card out of his pocket and tap in. Making his way through the gate, Harry looks back to find Louis taking his sweet time fishing his own Oyster Card out of his pocket.  
Finally, they make it onto the tube, finding seats towards the middle of the carriage. They sit down, and Harry wraps his arm around Louis’ shoulders immediately.

“You’ll have fun, I promise,” he tells Louis, dropping a kiss onto the top of his head.

  
They get off at Green Park and Louis’ happy to see it isn’t too busy. He just watches as Harry rolls his eyes and intertwines their hands. Louis lets Harry lead the way and they end up at a bookshop called Hatchard’s.

  
“It’s the oldest bookshop in London, Lou!” Harry informs him excitedly as they walk up to the door. “It opened way back in 1797!”

  
Louis just nods and smiles at Harry’s enthusiasm, but he’s honestly a little confused as to why Harry would think that an old bookshop would suddenly make him fall in love with London again. He doesn’t even like reading. When they get inside, Harry absolutely beams, looking down at Louis.

  
“There’s a few books I want to find,” Harry says.

  
Louis snorts. “Babe, I thought the point of this was to make me love London again.”

  
Harry lets go of Louis’ hand, completely ignoring his comment, and walks in the direction of the nearest bookcase. Louis watches for a moment as Harry skims the shelves, looking at each book. It only takes a few seconds for Louis to join him.

  
“Pick out any book you want, Lou, and I’ll get it for you,” Harry looks away from the book shelf to make eye contact with Louis. “I know you’re not much of a reader but I want to get you something.”

  
Forty-five minutes later, they’ve walked around the entire bookstore twice. Harry has picked out four books, and Louis found a historical book on London that he really doesn’t have much interest in, but he knew Harry wouldn’t let him leave without picking out a book. Plus, it goes with the whole London theme they have going on today.

  
Harry goes to pay and Louis watches as Harry hands over the money to the worker. It sparks a little something in him remembering the first day Harry had come in to Starbucks, no idea how to pay in pounds. Harry’s come a long way, but more importantly, they’ve come a long way. Lucky is what he is, to have someone so sweet and genuine and beautiful as Harry. Not a day goes by that he doesn’t think about his luck. In such a short amount of time Harry has become his everything.

  
“What are you smiling about?” Harry questions, dimples on display as he walks over to Louis, a bag full of books in hand.

  
Louis is broken out of his trance then, a blush creeping up on him. He hadn’t even realized that he’s smiling. “Nothing,” Louis shrugs. “I just love you a lot.”

  
“I love you too,” Harry chuckles. “A very much a lot.”

  
“You’re ridiculous.”

  
Harry laughs, leaning down to peck Louis’ lips before intertwining their hands again and leading Louis out the door. “Now for the fun part,” Harry winks, walking them in the direction of Piccadilly Circus.

  
“Can’t we take the tube?” Louis groans. “Or a bus?”

  
“No,” Harry answers. “First of all, it’s a nice day outside, Louis. We don’t need to spend it underground. Second of all, when’s the last time you were even in Piccadilly? You don’t have to answer that because I know the answer. You haven’t been there in forever, therefore, I think you can handle it this time. We’ll get in on the Piccadilly Line afterward and transfer over to the Jubilee and it’ll all be painless.”

  
“Look at you,” Louis squeezes his hand. “My little London expert.”

  
“Little?” Harry looks down at him, raising in eyebrow. “Who you calling little, Munchkin?”

  
“I take back what I said earlier,” Louis pokes Harry in the side with his free hand. “I don’t love you.”  
**  
The walk through Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, and Covent Garden are pretty brutal, and Louis thinks Harry can even agree. Walking through this area on a Saturday is a complete nightmare no matter how much you love London.

  
Their end destination is pretty cool though. Louis has heard of it, and seen it on Instagram before, but he’s never been.

  
“So, this is Neal’s Yard,” Harry explains. It’s in Covent Garden, tucked back in a place you would only find if you were looking for it. It’s a little corner really, but everything about it is bright, colorful, and loud.

  
“Pretty fucking sick,” Louis smiles, and Harry absolutely beams at Louis’ approval.

  
He pulls out his phone, snapping a few pictures for himself before turning to Louis. “Okay, go stand over there so I can take a picture of you, please.”  
Louis huffs but obeys because he knows he’s not getting out of this one. He acts like he hates it but secretly, he thinks it’s sweet that Harry wants to have all these pictures of Louis to remember all of these special moments they’ve shared together. Obviously Louis will never tell him that though.

  
“You’re so fucking cute,” Harry says, looking down at the picture of Louis that he just took. For once, Louis decides not to argue.

  
**  
When they get back to the flat, they collapse on the couch, tired from their day of adventure. 

“So, are you in love with London yet?”

  
“No, but I’m in love with you,” Louis answers, honestly.

  
“God,” Harry murmurs. He brings his hand up to Louis’ jaw, cupping it and leaning in to connect their lips. “I love you so fucking much. So, so much.”

  
They continue to kiss, lips sliding together with ease. Louis slips his tongue into Harry’s mouth, and Harry places his hand on Louis’ thigh, rubbing up and down. As the minutes pass, Harry’s hand gets closer and closer to where Louis’ starting to get hard.

  
“Gonna blow you,” Harry informs him at the same time he cups Louis’ cock through his jeans. Louis is always amazed by how Harry can take it from cute and sappy to hot and sexy within minutes.He loves it though.

  
“Fuck yeah,” Louis agrees, moaning as Harry massages him through the rough material. He pushes his hips up into Harry’s hand and Harry finally removes his hand to unzip Louis’ pants. Peeling his jeans and his boxers off of Louis, he takes Louis’ cock into his hand, lazily pumping it to full hardness.

  
Harry knows just what to do to drive him crazy and Louis fucking loves it.

  
“Today’s about you, babe. Just relax and don’t think about anything but how good I’m making you feel,” Harry murmurs barely above a whisper, and plants a gentle kiss to Louis’ tip.

  
“Fucking hell,” Louis moans as Harry takes his head into his mouth, sucking just the way he loves. Louis brings his hands down and laces his fingers into Harry’s curls. Harry gives an appreciative moan, starting to bob his head up and down, taking more and more of Louis’ cock each time. Eventually, Harry removes Louis cock from his mouth, much to Louis’ dismay, and replaces it with his hand, pumping Louis cock while bending down to press kisses into Louis’ soft thighs.

  
“Feels good, yeah?” Harry asks, taking Louis’ balls into his mouth.

  
Louis throws his head back, whimpers escape his mouth. He uses his hands, which are still laced in Harry’s hair, pulling on the curls in hopes that Harry will move back to his cock again.

  
After several agonizing moments of teasing Louis’ balls, Harry finally goes back to sucking his cock, and it’s only a matter of minutes before Louis is coming in Harry’s mouth, with Harry’s name on his lips.

  
“Get up here,” Louis smiles, and Harry plants himself in Louis lap. “Thank you, baby. For everything.”

  
Harry leans in and connects their lips, and Louis lets out a little sound as he tastes himself in Harry’s mouth.

  
“Anything for you,” Harry tells him, and Louis knows he truly means it. Louis moves to unzip Harry’s pants, noticing how hard Harry is just from sucking Louis off, but Harry bats his hand away. “No, Lou. I told you, today’s about you.”

  
“I want to though,” Louis says, moving his hand back to the zipper. When he gets Harry’s cock out, he begins to stroke his cock up and down, fast and hard like Harry likes it.

  
“Lou,” Harry whimpers.

  
Louis hums in response, focusing on Harry’s cock in his hand.

  
“The wondrous moment of our meeting...  
Still I remember you appear  
Before me like a vision fleeting,  
A beauty's angel pure and clear,” Harry recites, eyes closed, face scrunched up in pleasure.

He comes not a moment later.

“Did you just recite poetry while I was jerking you off?” Louis asked in disbelief.

Harry smiles and nods proudly. “It was in one of the books I bought and it reminded me of you.”

“You truly are one of a kind,” Louis shakes his head.

“What can I say?” Harry shrugs, removing himself from Louis’ lap. “Rest up, we still have more places to see.”

For the second time today, Louis doesn’t argue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The poem Harry recited is part of The Wondrous Moment of Our Meeting by Alexander Pushkin if anyone was wondering! 
> 
> There's only one chapter left and it's most likely going to be a lot longer than any of the other chapters so I can't really give you a time frame of when it'll be up because of work and I'm also working on writing a few other pics currently so there's a lot going on but it will be up eventually!
> 
> Feedback is welcomed and encouraged as always!


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well guys, it's been a while. my life has been a bit hectic, but five months later the last chapter is finally here!

From the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral with Louis under his arm, Harry truly feels like he’s on top of the world. There’s a slight breeze blowing through his hair, but it’s almost summer, and the sun is actually out. Harry can only chuckle at the contrast between now and the first time he came here with Louis.

Harry came to London looking to learn something, to explore. He hadn’t expected that the biggest lesson he would receive is what it’s like to be loved unconditionally.

Of course Harry had expected his study abroad experience to be life changing, but never would he have thought that he would meet the man who he’s pretty fucking positive is the love of his life.

He came where with a broken relationship, one that was so unhealthy Harry can’t believe he even let it go on for so long. He was blind to how bad it was. But now he knows. He knows what it’s like to be loved unconditionally.

Maybe he and Louis didn’t get together in the most traditional way, and they definitely both made their fair share of mistakes along the way. Their relationship moved pretty fast, they can’t deny that, but if it feels right then what’s the problem?

The wind blows again and Harry is brought out of his thoughts when he feels gentle kiss pressed to his cheek.

“You okay?” Louis asks, a small smile on his lips.

Harry nods, pulling Louis closer under his arm. “Yeah. Just thinking is all.”

“About?”

“You,” Harry answers. “Us. How much I love you.”

“I love you too,” Louis chuckles. “I love you so fucking much.”

Harry’s eyes are focused on the Shard in the distance, but his heart beats quickly in his chest. It’s not goodbye yet, there’s still a week left before he has to leave. He doesn’t want to cry already, but God dammit, how did he get so lucky?

“Thank you,” Harry chokes, squeezing his eyes shut.

Louis pulls back to get a better look at Harry’s face, slightly taken back by the sudden change in emotion. “What are you thanking me for? For loving you?” Louis says it as almost a joke because of course he loves Harry. He doesn’t expect Harry to actually nod and let out an actual sob. “Don’t cry, babe. Why are you crying?”

“Sorry,” he sniffs, reaching down to intertwine his hands with Louis’. “I just can’t believe I’m lucky enough to have you in my life.”

It takes about ten kisses and ten more “I love you’s” before Harry and Louis make their way back down the hundreds of steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral and back onto the tube.   
**

  
Just like the rest of Harry’s time in London, Harry’s last week goes by faster than anyone is prepared for.

Every morning Harry wakes up wrapped in Louis’ arms with his empty suitcase staring at him from across the room. And every night, even as Louis moves steadily inside him, Harry can’t help but see his suitcase taunting him from across the room.

He keeps telling himself he’ll pack, but unsurprisingly having as much sex as possible and hitting up all Harry’s favorite spots in London takes precedence over packing. Packing makes leaving way too real, and he can’t deal with that yet.

Harry constantly tries to remind himself and Louis that in just six months, after his last semester of college, he’ll be back in London for good. He’s already started looking for potential jobs and internships, but six months sounds way too long right now. Going from living together to nothing but texting and FaceTiming is going to be tough.

On top of that, he isn’t looking forward to saying goodbye to Niall, Liam, and Zayn either. Reconnecting with Niall has been amazing, and Liam and Zayn easily became close friends too.

“I should pack,” Harry mumbles, head on Louis’ naked chest and eyes trained on his suitcase.

Louis combs his fingers through Harry’s hair. “We should have sex.”

“We just had sex like ten minutes ago,” Harry chuckles.

Pulling Harry closer, Louis presses a kiss to Harry’s hair. “Yeah but babe, in a few days we won’t even be able to have sex for six whole months!”

“Ugh, Lou, don’t remind me,” Harry sighs, thinking about the fact that he's about to go from having the best sex of his life to having no sex at all.

**  
Two days to go and countless rounds of sex later, and Harry has still yet to pack a single thing.

He’s currently sitting at their local pub surrounded by the four boys and at least five empty pint glasses in front of him. Packing is the last thing on Harry’s mind right now when Louis’ hand is warm and firm on his thigh and Niall is telling some stupid story about he and Harry from back in the day.

Harry’s pleasantly buzzed and for the millionth time since he got to London he can’t help but look around and think this is exactly where I’m meant to be.

“So, Harry, any big plans for when you get back home?” Liam asks after Niall finishes his story.

Taking a generous gulp of his half empty pint glass, Harry takes a moment to think. Of course he’s exciting to see is family, but beyond that, Harry hasn’t really thought too much about what he’ll do when he gets home. “Dunno,” Harry shrugs. “See my family and friends, hit up all my favorite American restaurants. Besides that, I’m not really sure. I’ll probably just be working most of the summer.”

“Excited for your last semester of school?” Zayn chimes in.

“Definitely,” he answers. “It’s going to be a lot of work, but I can’t wait to be done. I can’t wait to graduate and move back here. It’s going to be amazing.”

Harry feels Louis squeeze his thigh under the table, a fond smile on his face as he watches Harry talk about his future.

“We’ll be glad to have you back,” Niall says at the same time Louis presses his face into Harry’s shoulder, leaving a gentle kiss there.

Harry’s heart warms at the same time it sinks. This whole leaving thing is only getting harder.

**  
Twelve hours.

Twelve hours to go and Harry is crying.

Louis took him out to the nicest restaurant Harry has ever been to. It must’ve costed Louis a fortunate but insisted that it didn’t matter, and paid for the entire thing. He didn’t even let Harry see the bill.

It was a beautiful dinner filled with lots of laughter, a few tears here and there, and the best chocolate cake Harry has ever tasted.

But now that chocolate cake is long forgotten with the way Louis currently has Harry laid out on the bed, rocking into him slowly, hand gripping Harry’s hip, and his face buried in Harry’s neck.

“Fucking love you so much, baby. So much,” Louis murmurs into the soft, milky skin of Harry’s neck. “Best thing to ever happen to me, baby.”

Harry lets out a sob, throwing his head back at the feeling of Louis moving inside him mixed with his sweet words. “Fuck,” Harry cries. “L-love you. Love you too. fuck.”

He wishes he could live in this moment forever, but it’s only a few short minutes before Harry’s coming undone with Louis’ name on his lips. Moments later, Louis lets go too.

“Fuck,” Louis sighs, as he carefully pulls out of Harry. He presses a tender kiss to Harry’s lips before slipping off the bed to get a towel to clean them off. He wipes off their hands and abdomens before tossing the towel on the ground and gathering Harry in his arms. “I meant it, you know. You are, by far, the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“Louis,” Harry warns, trying to stop the tears from welling up in his eyes again. “I’m gonna cry again if you don’t stop.”  
“I don’t deserve you, babe. Really, I don’t know how I got so lucky. I don’t deserve you after I treated you like shit when you first got here,” Louis sighs. They’ve talked about this probably a hundred times since they worked things out, but Louis doesn’t think he can ever apologize enough times.

Planting a kiss on Louis’ cheek, Harry sighs. “We’ve talked about this so many times, Lou. I was at fault too. But it doesn’t matter, we’re past that. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me too. I love you more than words can describe. I don’t know what I’m going to do without you until December.”

“I don’t know what I’m going to do either,” Louis admits. “Don’t know what I’ll do without your dumb jokes, or you cooking, or the way you dragged me all around London.”

“I knew you loved visiting every tourist spot possible!” Harry exclaims. “Finally you admit you liked it.”

Harry looks way too pleased with himself but Louis just rolls his eyes. “It wasn’t London that I liked. It was watching your eyes light up, and your big smile stretch across your face each time you saw something new.”

“Sap,” Harry smiles, connecting their lips for a kiss. “Thank you for tagging along with me though. And don’t worry, there’s still plenty more places I want to visit when I come back.”

Their conversation runs into the early morning, hushed voices, and soft skin touching. They talk about anything and everything that happened over the past few months. They finally drift off to sleep towards three in the morning, cuddled up close.

Morning comes far too quickly, alarming going off at 6:00. They need to be to the airport in two hours and Harry hasn’t even finished packing.

Groaning, Louis reaches for his phone, pressing snooze immediately.

“Morning,” Louis murmurs. His eyes are still shut, pulling Harry closer in his arms.

Harry presses his nose into Louis’ bare chest, trying to cuddle up as close as possible. “Morning, babe.”

Louis can tell just from those two words Harry is already fighting back tears. This is going to be harder than either of them could have ever imagined.

By some miracle they make it to the airport on time after a hectic morning at home. Louis had gone to take a shower, telling Harry to finish packing while he showered. It took about two seconds before Harry was slipping into Louis’ shower begging Louis to fuck him one last time. How was Louis supposed to say no to that?

So between shower sex, trying to finish up packing, and lots of tears, making it to the airport on time was really quite impressive.

“Got your passport?” Louis asks for what must be the millionth time.  
“Yes, Louis,” Harry sighs. “ Would it be so bad if I didn’t have it though?”

“Well, no. That wouldn't be so bad,” Louis says with a small smile on his face. He checks the time on his phone. “Looks like we have about ten minutes.”

“Okay,” Harry breathes, closing his eyes.

Louis intertwines their fingers, gently squeezing. “Text me as soon as you land, okay? And send me lots of pictures of all the fun things you do when you get home. I want to see you smiling and having fun with all your friends and family. We’ll FaceTime when you get home too, and you can give me a tour of your house and all that, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Harry sniffs. “Nothing will be as fun without you though.”

“Six months, baby. I know we can do it. I’m so proud of you already, so close to graduating. You’re so amazing, my sweet, smart, beautiful boy.”

“I love you so much,” Harry cries, wiping the tears away from his cheeks. “ Send me pictures of what you’re doing too, Lou. I want to see it all. Go out with Niall, Liam, and Zayn, and go to all my favorite places in London, and try to do your laundry regularly, okay?”

“Yes to everything except the laundry,” Louis lefts wetly, tears starting to form in his eyes as well. “The laundry is a lot to ask of me, you know that, babe.”

“Yeah I know,” Harry agrees. “I, um, I wrote you a letter.” Releasing his hand from Louis’ grip, Harry reaches into his back pocket to fish out the folded piece of paper. “Wait until I’m gone to read it, but yeah. Here you go.”

Louis takes the piece of paper and puts it into his own pocket before wrapping his arms around Harry’s waist. Harry follows, wrapping his own arms around Louis.

“I love you, Louis” Harry says again, squeezing Louis tight against his body.

Louis squeezes right back. “I love you too, baby.”

Pulling back slightly, Louis reaches up to press a kiss to Harry’s mouth. Harry responds immediately, gripping Louis tightly as their mouths move together in sync.

After a few moments, Harry pulls back, sighing. “I should probably get going, huh?”

Louis nods in agreement, pressing one more kiss to Harry’s lips. “Yeah, guess it’s that time.”

By the time they gather Harry’s bags up and exchange several more kisses and “I love you’s,” they’re both crying. Louis watches Harry leave until he goes through security and Louis can’t see him anymore. Harry stops to blow him one last kiss, teary eyes and shaky hands.

It takes Louis a while to make himself leave the airport and get on the tube to head back home. Once he gets on the Piccadilly Line, he settles in for a long ride across London. He pulls out his headphones, putting them in his ears. Scrolling through his phone, Louis stumbles upon a playlist titled Tube Jamzzz. It’s a playlist Harry made, of course, for all their journeys on the tube. Most of them are songs Harry likes, songs Louis would never admit to liking because he knows Harry would be too pleased with himself. Despite his better judgement, Louis presses play and pulls out Harry’s letter.

He knows he should probably wait to read this at home because crying on the tube is the last thing he wants to do, but he can’t wait that long. He takes a deep breath, and unfolds the paper with shaky hands.

Dear Louis,

I’m writing this while you're sleeping next to me. I can’t sleep because I leave in three days and the thought of sleeping without you next to me for the next six months is so terrifying.

Who would have thought that stupid American ordering his stupid latte would end up falling in love with the sassy (but sexy ;) ) barista? Funny how things work out, huh?

No matter how rocky of a start we had, and no matter how many mistakes we both made, I’d do it all again in a heart beat because in the end I’d still end up happier than I’ve ever been in my entire life. Thank you, Louis, for bringing me so much happiness. You light up the room every time you walk in, and you bring smiles to the faces of everyone you meet. I don’t think you understand how truly amazing you are. I’ll never stop telling you though, so hopefully one day you’ll realize.

Thank you for showing me what it’s like to be loved unconditionally. Thank you for loving me and thank you for letting me love you.

I hate that this letter sounds like a goodbye, because it’s not. They say all good things come to end, right? Well the end is just this chapter of our lives, and six months is nothing compared to forever. We have so many more chapters in store for us, and I can’t wait.

I love you. So, so, soooooooo much.

I know you’re probably reading this on the tube and I’m sorry if it made you cry. I know you hate when people show too much emotion on the tube. Whoops.

See you soon, babe.

Yours forever and always,  
H

And yes, Louis is most definitely crying on the tube.

**

Being back in America is weird. Being without Louis is even weirder.

Harry doesn’t mean to start crying when his mom hugs him at the luggage claim in the airport, but it just slips out.   
“Baby, what’s wrong?” Anne pulls back, concern written all over her face.

Harry just shakes his head, pulling her back into a hug. “Just a lot of emotions is all.”

When they pull up to the house, Harry is greeted by all of his family and friends. It’s a nice gesture, and he’s glad to see them all, he really is, but he kind of just wants to sleep for the next week. His mom has his favorite meal waiting in the kitchen and they all cram around the table, eating, and asking Harry about a million questions about his time abroad.

By the time everyone leaves, Harry is beyond exhausted. Getting used to the time difference is definitely going to be tough.

Before going upstairs to shower and slip into bed, Harry kisses his mom on the cheek, thanking her for everything.

“I know it doesn’t feel like it Harry, but the next six months are going to fly by. You’ll be back with Louis soon enough.”

Harry can only nod before hurrying upstairs, stepping into the shower, and letting out a few more tears.

**  
As it turns out, his mom was wrong.

Summer absolutely drags on. Harry goes back to his old job at the local bakery and he hangs out with his friends when he’s not working, but it’s hard.

Of course he misses Louis, but on top of that, after spending half a year in a giant city with endless possibilities, being back home in the suburbs is a big change. Louis teases him all the time over FaceTime about his reverse culture shock but it’s no joke.

By the time the end of August rolls around, Harry is so relieved school is starting again, mostly just for a change of scenery.

His family helps him move into his apartment near campus. He’s sharing it with two friends and while Harry can’t wait to graduate, he has to admit, it does feel good to be back at school again. His last semester is going to difficult and demanding but Harry’s more than up for the challenge.

“Give me the grand tour then, babe,” Louis urges over FaceTime once Harry’s all settled in.

Harry is laying in bed, worn out from all the unpacking. “There’s not much to see, Lou. It’s a shitty college apartment. It’s pretty small.”

“Alright. If you aren’t going to give me a tour then I guess maybe I’ll just have to fly over there and see it for myself.”

Harry’s breath stutters at that. It’s not the first time Louis has mentioned coming to visit him, but flights aren’t cheap and Harry doesn’t want to get his hopes up. Louis is currently working two jobs while still in school as well. The lease on their flat had been up shortly after Harry left, so Louis moved in with Niall and Liam for the remainder of the year to save money. That way they’ll be able to move into a new flat together when Harry moves back.

“You know you’re always welcome here,” Harry says seriously.

Louis’ soft smile fills up the screen, and Harry’s heart aches with how much he misses him. “I’ll see what I can do, babe. You know I’ll try.”

**  
August leads into September and September quickly turns into October. Midterms are just around the corner and stressed would be an understatement.

Just like Louis, Harry is currently working two jobs as well, one a boring desk job on campus, and two, as a bus boy at a restaurant just down the street from his apartment. Neither of them are ideal, and neither of them are giving him any experience he’ll need pertaining to his major but hey, at least he’s making some type of money. He knows Louis is working just as hard across the pond and it makes Harry’s heart swell with how much effort their both putting into building their future.

It’s been harder to keep up with daily FaceTime calls due to the fact that working around the time difference is even more difficult when you’re busy and exhausted. But that only makes the time they do get to FaceTime even more special.

**  
One week, two projects, one paper, and two exams stand between Harry and graduating. And it’s really fucking hard to focus when he’s so close to seeing Louis again. He’s so close to being back in Louis’ arms, surrounded by his best friends and in his favorite city.

Unfortunately though, graduating in December means that the holidays follow shortly after, which means Harry won’t actually be back in London until January. That also means he’ll miss Louis’ birthday. Louis assures him it’s fine, as long as he’s there for the rest of his birthdays. Harry’s pretty confident he can do that.

With the help of a lot of coffee, late nights, and pep talks from Louis, Harry somehow finishes the semester.

The morning of his graduation, Harry wakes to a text from Louis that makes him smile.

congratulations baby !!! I knew you could do it, i’m sooooo proud of you !!! i love you and don’t trip when you go up there to get your diploma ;)

Harry chuckles at the last part, ready to respond, until another message comes through. This time it’s a picture. A naked picture.

don’t forget , this will be all yours again before you know it

“Fuck,” Harry groans, shutting his eyes, and breathing deep. The whole no sex for six months thing has been rough, especially when Harry’s boyfriend is the most beautiful fucking tease in the world.

fucking love you a lot, Harry types out quickly before hurrying to get ready. He’s already running late, and his family is supposed to be at his apartment in fifteen minutes.

A quick shower, change of clothes, and half a sandwich later, Harry’s mom calls him, telling him to let them up into his apartment. He buzzes them in and a minute later there’s a knock on his door.

“Coming!” he yells, hurrying to get from the kitchen to the front door. He unlocks the door, and turns the knob, ready to greet his mom and sister.

“Louis?” Harry breathes in disbelief. What is Louis doing here? How’d he get here? Is this a dream?   
“Hey babe,” Louis smiles. “You wanna let me inside?”

Before Harry can do anything, he lunges forward, kissing Louis fiercely. It feels so surreal, Louis’ lips against his for the first time in months.

When they finally break apart, Louis reaches up to stroke a hand across Harry’s cheek. “Don’t cry,” Louis chuckles, although his eyes are shining with tears as well. Harry hadn’t even realized that he’s crying.  
  
“Sorry,” Harry sniffs. “I just, fuck, I can’t believe you’re here!”

“Did you really think I was gonna miss my boy’s graduation?” Louis smiles, pecking Harry on the cheek. “Been planning this for a while now.”

“God,” Harry breathes, pulling Louis into a hug. “Best surprise ever. I missed you so much, Louis. You have no idea!”

Louis hugs him right back, burying his head in Harry’s chest. “I think I do know. I was going crazy without you!”

They stand there for a few more minutes, just breathing and taking each other in. They don’t need to use words to know what their both thinking.

“Come on, babe. Your family is waiting outside, and you have a diploma to get.”

**  
Much to everyone’s relief, Harry does not trip walking on stage to get his diploma, but he does get a big cheer from Louis when his name is called.

Harry and Louis spend the next few days familiarizing themselves with each other’s bodies again, mapping out every inch of skin with their mouths, making up for lost time. Although they do take breaks so Harry can show Louis around his hometown and introduce him to all his friends.

Almost every time Harry introduces Louis to someone they say something along the lines of “so this is the Louis that Harry never shuts up about!” Harry blushes every time and Louis always smirks, looking way too pleased with himself.

Just before the holidays, Louis heads back to England, but this time their goodbye isn’t so hard.

This time, just a few weeks stand between them and forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who read this story, it means a lot! I'm so sorry it took me so long to update towards the end but we got here some how. I had a lot of fun writing this, and I hope you enjoyed reading it as well.
> 
> Comments/feedback would be very appreciated! :)

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on tumblr www.headscarvesandtattoos.tumblr.com
> 
> disclaimer: this is entirely fiction


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